Slacktivist: Using Digital Media to Create Change

TAKE THE GUESS WORK OUT OF DIGITAL ACTIVISM Creating change is complicated, but your digital strategy shouldn't be. Slacktivist is your detailed roadmap for building and leveraging online platforms for mission-based content. Today, one-fifth of Americans report being online nearly continuously. A speaking point, fundraiser or entire movement can go viral in minutes. It’s not only politicians and businesses that are using the internet to further their interests. From #ArabSpring and #OccupyWallStreet to #LoveWins and #BlackLivesMatter - Digital media is increasingly being used to establish and drive social initiatives. You can harness the same tools to support the social issues you are passionate about. In college, Meg was very invested in campus activism. She didn’t realize that being a professional changemaker was an option. She never imagined being able to dedicate her life to making the world a better place. She figured she’d get a desk job and use her spare time to help contribute to the causes I was passionate about. When she first jumped into the world of professional activism, she had no idea what she was doing or even how to get started. Fast forward, twelve years later, not only has she worked for several of the largest change-making organizations in her field but she's also amassed millions of page views for her blog dopesontheroad.com, followers @megcale, and opportunities from the digital content she's created. She's able to make a full-time income while contributing to helping and supporting her community. The longer she used the internet as a means of creating change, the more she realized there are so many people out there- who are like the person she was when she got started. Folks looking for an outlet to help create change in their communities, wanting to do more to support causes they’re passionate about, and thinking of ways to follow their heart while still being able to support themselves but just not knowing where to start or how to help. She wanted to dedicate her life to doing something bigger than her, so she studied nonprofit management and started writing. She wrote and wrote and wrote until she had written down every single thing she's learned about supporting social justice communities and creating change online and thus…Slacktivist was born. Making the world a better place doesn’t have to be overwhelming... Creating change in our communities is a never-ending task. When you take into account everything that goes into building a successful digital strategy - the writing, editing, graphic design, email campaigns, social media posting - plus the emotional toll that many community educators endure, she can deeply empathize with newcomers. It seems like we have to master all things to create a successful digital strategy that actually impacts the communities we’re trying to serve. We’ve all seen what can happen when it’s done well -The Ice Bucket Challenge, for example, raised $115 million dollars. Working with Ice Bucket money, researchers from Johns Hopkins University identified a protein that fails in the cells of most ALS patients and showed that if they repair the protein, the damaged cell can heal. That is the impact digital activism can have on the world. It can be scary to get started... But what if you had a detailed, step-by-step guide to walk you through it? The goal with Slacktivist was not to write another preachy book about social justice theory and change-maker rhetoric but to single out the most effective strategies to help activists and community educators create tangible digital action plans to impact real-world social challenges. Slacktivist is filled with empirically validated methods - you can start using today. The information is laid out in a step by step format that will help you formulate an action plan applicable to your specific area of need.