Its More Than a Video Is a Social Movement Essay Example

Its More Than a Video Is a Social Movement Essay It’s more than a video: it’s a social media movement In this paper, I would like to discuss the elements that made the KONY 2012 the most viral video in the history, with over 76 million views in one week. I will also discuss how social media has played a significant role in this campaign and the elements that promoted the engagement of young people worldwide. With 76 million viewers in one week, the Kony 2012 campaign designed by Invisible Children has caused a movement. While millions of people have collaborated so far with this initiative by buying 500,00 â€Å"Action Kits† and/or sharing this video through their social media, others have criticized it affirming that campaigns like these give young people a false sense of accomplishment and discourage real engagement in social issues (Ojalvo, 2012). But what made this campaign so attractive for 76 million viewers? What made them click? â€Å"if you want to get and hold someone’s attention, tell a story† (Weinschenk, 2009, p. 112). According to the website, â€Å"Invisible Children uses film, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in Central Africa to peace and prosperity. † To achieve this mission they are trying to: 1. Make the world aware of the LRA. This includes making documentary films and touring them around the world so that they are seen for free by millions of people, 2. Channel energy from viewers of IC films into large-scale advocacy campaigns to stop the LRA and protect civilians, and 3. We will write a custom essay sample on Its More Than a Video Is a Social Movement specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Its More Than a Video Is a Social Movement specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Its More Than a Video Is a Social Movement specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Operate programs on the ground in LRA-affected areas that provides protection, rehabilitation and development assistance (Invisible Children, n. d. ). Invisible Children began his â€Å"National Tour† campaign in 2005, with 29 college-age students who traveled throughout US, to raise awareness in local schools and communities. However, it was from a video launched a week ago that this organization became popular worldwide. According to Mr. Keesey, â€Å"[The video] is connected to a really deep, thoughtful very intentional and strategic campaign. The purpose of the web campaign was to introduce new people to the terror inflicted by LRA. Those people could then take their awareness to their political leader† (Invisible Children, 2012). The inspiring current of cyber idealism among the under-25’s is a phenomenon that Cohen (2012) describes a one that has triggered a quite unique social validation movement. Accorrding to Haslam, McGarty, Turner (1996), people are more likely to be persuaded and positively influenced by others with whom they recognize a shared identity. With the help of Facebook and Twitter, Jason Russell’s video has become the most viral video in history, and succeeded in promoting (as it is explained on the webpage) the involvement of celebrities like Angeline Jolie, Ben Affleck, and Ellen DeGeneres. Angeline Jolie, who has been named a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations said during an event to mark International Women’s Day â€Å" I don’t know anyone who does not hate Kony† (Child, 2012). Ben Affleck also commented on the website of his humanitarian organization Eastern Congo Initiative, â€Å"Joseph Kony must be caught. His lieutenants must be brought to justice and the LRA abductees still in the bush – fighting against their will must be rescued and rehabilitated†. Ellen DeGeneres, who has over 4. 5 million twitter followers, has also made a comment about the KONY 2012 saying, â€Å"I am talking about it, I hope you are too†. Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Oprah have also made comments supporting this cause and engaging his fans to â€Å"retweet† this video. What this campaign has caused is what Gentile et al (2009) defined as â€Å"beneficial† behavior, for being associated with generally kind, altruistic individuals. In the website, the program Schools for Schools talks about how US schools compete against each other, to see which one gathered more money to help build schools in Northern Uganda. This had generated among US students a largely unconscious feeling called by Weinschenk (2009), Reciprocity, because representatives from the winner school also had the opportunity to travel to Northern Uganda to share with local students and promote intercultural exchange. Persuasion and reciprocity are also concepts well used in the campaign. Part of the original video’s purpose is to engage the audience to buy the â€Å"action kit†. As described in the web page: â€Å"People will think you are and advocate of awesome. Everything you’ll need to take part in our KONY 2012 campaign is included in this kit: an official campaign + T-shirt + KONY bracelet + action guide + Stickers + Button + Posters† (Invisible Children, 2012). This Action Kit will be used on the night of April 20th, in the â€Å"cover the night† activity, where the goal is to post 1,000,000 campaign posters, signs and stickers around the US. Due the enormous success of the video, 500,000 Action Kits, T-shirts and CDs where sold in a matter of days and are no longer available. As a result, followers turned to social media to ask when they will have more. As Weinschenk (2009) says, if there is limited availability of something, we assume it is more valuable and we want it even more. According to the Visible Measures Blog (2012), until today, Kony 2012 had generated 112 million views and over 860,000 comments. The views come from 750 clips across the web most coming from video responses to the campaign. There are even translated subtitled versions of the documentary popping up in Spanish, Italian, French and Chinese. The more reviewers there are, the more powerful the impact of social validation will be (Weinschenk, 2009). Jason Russell presents the story using a narrative form in 1st person; that captures the audience’s attention by using a language that is easily understood. The video can be divided into 3 parts. In the first part, he stimulates mostly the mid brain. By using phrases like â€Å"because he was born, he matters† â€Å"I want him to live in a better world†, Jason shows his â€Å"personas† as Weinschenk (2009) calls them, so you can be clear of his motivations, values and relationships. In order for us to engage with his motive, he focuses on showing his son Gavin as a happy American boy who is enjoying his childhood, so when later you see boys â€Å"living in fear† your middle brain will generate angry and sadness. For the second part of the video, he continues to engage the mid brain, by narrating the story of Jacob, a survivor of the LRA-Abduction. Jacob talks about his brother and how he wants to dye because the does not likes the way Ugandan boys live. During this part, Jason narrates how boys like Jacob are forced to fight, abuse girls, mutilate and in some cases kill members of their own families. He presents pictures of mutilated kids and boys sleeping on the floor. He also presents people who have been engaged to the â€Å"National Tour† movement. The music, during this part of the video is low, with a sad tone and no lyrics. In this second part, the old brain is stimulated with images and phrases like â€Å"fear†, â€Å"in danger†, â€Å"afraid†, â€Å"abducted† and â€Å"sex slaves†. Jason also starts using the â€Å"You† word in phrases like â€Å"this is not only about me and you, is about changing the course of human history† and â€Å"We Build a community around the idea that where you live should not determine whether you live†. This is also incorporated in a later video of Jason, where he is thanking the audience for the response and the forwarding abilities of those who shared the video in the first days. The clearly states: â€Å"This is not our movement, it is a name, I mean it is Invisible Children, but it is your movement, you started this, with your donations, and we are here to serve you, it is much bigger than me†. During the TONY 2012 video, our new brain is again stimulated when Jason explains his Gavin, who is Joseph Kony. Gavin uses simple phrases like â€Å"he is bad†, â€Å"they should stop him†, which reinforces the main idea of the video. Later, Jason includes the declaration of the Head prosecutor of Int. crimes court, who explains how the ICC is trying to indict Joseph Kony for: Abduction, slavery, abuses and homicide enforces the reason for this video. In the third part of the video, again the three brains are engaged. The music changes to energize the images. Our brains are built to process pictures, and we think in pictures, so presenting information as pictures is the most effective way to present information to people† (Weinschenk, 2009, p. 116). Jason introduces the programs they have been working in Northern Uganda, and thousands of college-age collaborators participating in intercultural meetings where they are helping a cause while having fun. Since Jason does not want us to stay with the sad part of the story in our minds; in this last part, the tries to move the audience from feeling sad and angry, to get active and cooperate by: 1. Sharing the video on Facebook and Twitter, 2. Purchasing the action kit, 3. Donate to the cause. Is in this part of the video, where Jason incorporates some marketing concepts that were explained in Weinschenk book: †¢Deals: if you donate a â€Å"few bucks a month†, you can have the action kit for â€Å"free†. †¢The bracelet has a unique number that you can register in the KONY 2012 webpage to have more information about the movement. Community is a concept reinforced several times on the video. Phrases like â€Å"a bunch of little’s can make a lot of difference†, â€Å"The first time this action was taken, because the people demand it† â€Å"Not only for Ugandan people but for everyone† makes you feel that his video is part of something bigger. As a result, the reaction you can see in many people celebrating the response from President Obama, of sending soldiers to work with Uganda’s army, gives the impression of a worldwide network that have worked hard to make this cause of public interest. It presents how through social media, the community have shared what they are doing in each city, and how they are getting ready for the night of april 20th. As Weinschenk (2009) refers, the cooperation between individuals in a group, allows it to grow and support each other. According to Green Brock (2002), narrative persuasion addresses occur because an individual is â€Å"transported† into the narrative world. KONY 2012, has successfully maintained 70 million people watching a 30 minute documentary, ensuring what Walt Disney said many years ago: audiences can maintain the attention for more than 2 minutes if the material presented is appealing enough. This narrative persuasion and the use of simple language (that even a four year old kid can understand) is what makes it a catchy video for all ages. Using the Mass Interpersonal Persuasion (Weinschenk, 2009, p. 131), Jason made and excellent campaign, that evokes strong emotions and leads people to completely agree on his cause. The fact that this video has been shared mostly by teenagers from 13-17 years old (Rode, 2012), does makes a point that although they have not been in the past targeted by CSR campaigns, they do have the power to spread the word faster than other age groups. Just like in Egypt, social media is giving youth voice and determining a political agenda and helping them discover their untapped power. As a result of this successful campaign, many have discussed whether this video will continue to evoke social change. According to Ruge (2012), editor of CNN â€Å"KONY 2012, cemented the legitimacy of social media for global engagement, but missed an opportunity to empower the many Ugandan and Central African voices newly visible with the advent of mobile technology and social media tools on the continent†. Other journalists such as Christiane Amanpour (the Chief international corresponding for CNN) affirms that â€Å"what’s really important is that this 52 million and counting view’s will hopefully not just sensitized people about war criminals like Joseph Kony but in general try to get society on board to really press the governments to do something about this war crimes†. Regarding all the critics, the Facebook page told his more than 3 million fans: â€Å"Whether you’re criticizing Invisible Children or not, it is not about us. I think that everyone can agree that this violence needs to stop and children should not be forced to fight† (Facebook/invisiblechildren, 2012). This page also encourages people to leave comments on the wall, promoting ideas, asking questions. What cannot be argued, is that those 750,000 people who have shared the video, and those 500,000 who bought the Action Kit have developed ownership for this cause, and that for years, this movement will be studied not because it moved people to buy bracelets or donate a few dollars, but because it moved the masses, and made us realize the great power social media can have when used correctly. Reference: Affleck, B. (2012). A message from ECI founder Ben Affleck on KONY 2012. Retrieved from: http://www. easterncongo. org/news-perspectives/ Child, B. (2012). Kony 2012: Angelina Jolie calls for Ugandan warlord’s arrest. Retrieved from: http://www. guardian. co. uk/film/2012/mar/12/kony-2012-angelina-jolie CNN. (2012). Amanpour: Kony film helps to educate. Retrieved from: www. cnn. com/video/#/video/world/2012/03/09/uganda-kony-film-amanporut-reax. cnn Giles, D. C. (2003). Media Psychology. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Haslam, S. A. , McGarty. C. , Turner, J. C. (1996). Whats social about social cognition? Research on socially shared cognition in small groups. (pp. 29-56)Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, IncNye, Judith L. (Ed); Brower, Aaron M. (Ed), (1996). xxxiii, 398 pp. Harris, C. (2011) â€Å"Walden University and Harris Interactive Release Report on the Future of Social Change†, Professional Services Close-Up, Sept. 23, 2011. Invisible children, (2012). Thank you, Kony 2012 Supporters. Retrieved from: http://vimeo. com/38344284 Invisible Children webpage: www. invisiblechildren. com Ojalvo, H. (2012). Do social media campaigns like Kony 2012 stunt or stimulate real change? Retrieved from: http://learning. blogs. nytimes. com/2012/03/13/do-social-media-campaigns-like-kony-2012-stunt-or-stimulate-real-change/ Paine, K. (2007). How to Measure Social Media Relations: The More things change, the more they remain the same. Retrieved from: http://www. instituteforpr. org/wp-content/uploads/How_to_Measure_Blogs. pdf Rode, M. 2012). South Africa: Five lessons brands can learn from Kony 2012. Retrieved from: http://allafrica. com/stories/201203141089. html. Ruge, TMS. (2012). Opinion: Why Kony 2012 created the wrong buzz. Retrieved from: www. cnn. com/2012/03/12/world/africa/kony-2012-tms-opinion/index. html Update: Kony social video campaign tops 100 million views. (2012). Visible measures. Retrieved from: http://corp. visiblemeasures. com/news-and-events/blog/ Weinschenk, S. M. (2009). Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? Berkeley: New Riders.