Public Relations / SNS/ Kony 2012

As I dabble more into public relations... I cannot help but think connect the dots between Kony 2012, Public Relations, SNS.

Kony 2012 is widely seen as a PR failure therefore I want to look into how using SNS as a Public Relations tool backfired on the campaign.

Mistakes that Kony 2012 made when using Facebook.

One of the biggest mistakes that Kony 2012 made during the campaign was that their campaign was seen merely as an advertisement. It hinged itself to Facebook, which was intrusive and proceeded created a desirable message around an unsubstantiated problem. Advertisements ability to make the lousiest of product irresistible is undeniable but attempting to solve a unsubstantiated problem is close to impossible and was going to found out with it being so intrusive to the public eye. The campaign was never going to present users with details; rather it plagued Facebook users with guilt, toyed with their emotions with its graphic video and pictures, the campaign threaded on borderline manupilation.

Critics’ biggest problem with the Kony 2012 was Jason Russell’s brilliantly done video. The video, which was the key to the entire campaign, was seen as oversimplifying the issues and problems in Uganda. Questions were also raised about the agenda of the video, whether information were kept from the public on purpose. Russell’s response to the video “It definitely oversimplifies the issue. This video is not the answer; it’s just the gateway into the conversation. And we made it quick and oversimplified on purpose… We are proud that it is simple. We like that. And we want the people to keep investigating, we want them to read the history.” Here is where using a medium like Facebook hurts the campaign’s course. Facebook is a double-edged sword, whatever positives that social movements, corporate businesses, groups, sports teams can find using Facebook works as a negative. Invisible children probably saw Facebook as a just tool to promote their campaign, it took the power of Facebook too lightly and probably viewed it as ‘just a harmless social media site’. Invisible Children should have understood that going viral on Facebook is the equivalent of writing an article for the New York Times - possibility even more. It is important that messages should be treated like a newspaper article; it has to be well sourced, supported by strong evidence, clear and unambiguous. No matter how powerful their message is, their cause can be brought down by the slightest inaccuracy of the information they put on Facebook. Facebook users have learnt to be cautious about what they see and read on the Internet and aren’t taken in by the audio video footage. Internet search engines allow extensive research on their movements, their dealings and for some their dirty deeds. The new-age audiences expect accurate facts; the trolls are out there digging for facts to disqualify any popular new media outputs. As annoying as trolls are on social networking sites as Facebook and Youtube, they play an important role in the social network. Trolls are the devils advocate in the Internet and should not be ignored, Internet trolls sometime bring out issues that surround an interest on the web. Instead of ignoring or defending themselves against trolls, Stop Kony 2012 should have looked into the more intelligent comments made by trolls and respond to them appropriately.

Another problems that the Stop Kony 2012 campaign faced is that because of their use in Facebook, they inherited ‘keyboard warriors’ who are people who voice out their support for their movement but don’t contribute to the program. Points have been made that without face-to-face communication, social movements cannot be sustaining over time. (Etzinoni and Etzioni, 1999) Which is particularly true for the Stop Kony 2012 campaign, barely a month to the event, the interest and the luster of making a difference for Uganda has died down. Malcolm Gladwell coins this phenomenon as Slacktivism, he lambasts the idea of asking if the hope of social activism lie on the people who log on to their Facebook page. (2010). To give Gladwell credit, social media back in 2010 is nothing like the one that we have now, even if his comment was made 2 years ago but to suggest that the people who log on to Facebook are useless, seems a little unfair.  500 Million users are just too much to ignore, sure you are going to get your fair share of ‘Keyboard Warriors’ but there are going to be enough people in the 500 Million users worldwide that would be able to contribute to social movements online. There is also a big problem with the outline of the way the campaign has been run, the campaign just targeted the entire world and didn’t necessarily cater to the passionate people willing to lay their lives for the