Social Media is a funny thing. For some people, their entire lives are played out online – be that their conversations, the places the visit or the things they are doing. For some people its simply a means of taking a back seat and watching the world unfold, in real time.
Although I had a flurry with Twitter, I mainly use Social Media for the latter.
Occasionally something will catch my eye and while 9 times out 10 it occupies me 5 minutes, sometimes I take a greater interest. Kony 2012 caught my attention.
For those who don’t know, Joseph Kony is head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. His army is responsible for the abduction, rape, mutilation and murder of thousands of children which are either forced to become soldiers in the LRA or used as sex slaves for Kony and his officers.
While what Kony is doing is awful, its not the point of this post. Instead it the power that social media has over policy makers all over the world it influencing change.
When American politicians were first made aware of the situation in Uganda, many turned a blind eye. The Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign was born and soon took to the internet, namely facebook and twitter aiming to raise awareness. They succeeded.
One facebook page currently has over 700,000 active users, #kony2012 has been trending on twitter and the often over looked YouTube has been leading the way. The Kony 2012 video has so far received 78,031,435 views!
I have to admit, the video is expertly shot and edited and is clearly doing a fine job in raising awareness, so much so its how I found out about the cause.
Having a strong following is one thing, its what you do with them that really counts.
It seems that the American politicians are listening, thanks to the power of the people. Its amazing to see people uprising all over the world, and I assume this is the digital equivalent?
Here’s the full video. Make sure you want till the end…