Climate change: the role of social media in activism

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“Slacktivists” and “clicktavists” are just two of the words that have been used to deride activists who stay at home and use social media to further their causes. But it has become increasingly apparent over the past few years that social media is a valuable tool for activists to help orgainse campaigns and spread information – holding digital climate strikes, for example, or sending out climate-related tweetstorms, translating and disseminating information about climate change into different languages, and so on.

Social media is also important for giving a voice to people who may find it difficult to be heard, says Lauren Paris, a senior at DePaul University in Chicago and the co-president of the DePaul chapter of The Climate Reality Project. “It’s just amazing how social media is giving activists that would normally be on the sidelines – like youth, who don’t even have the right to vote yet – the attention of celebrities and politicians.”

Many charities and non-profit organisations have been quick to harness the power of social media to further their activist causes. For example, environmental organisation Greenpeace uses social media to raise awareness about environmental issues  including climate change, deforestation, and ocean conservation. It uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to share news and updates about its campaigns, engage with followers, and encourage people to take action.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is another conservation charity that uses social media including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. It puts these networks to work to raise awareness about environmental issues including climate change, wildlife conservation, and sustainable living. It also uses these social media platforms to share news and updates about its campaigns, promote sustainable practices, and engage with supporters.

In particular, social media can be a powerful tool for activists to help:

• Build a community around an issue: Platforms such as Facebook can bring people with a shared passion together, regardless of where they live. This can help motivate and inspire people to further their activism by organising campaigns and demonstrations. For example, Climate Reality Project is dedicated to raising awareness about climate change. It uses social media to share information about the impacts of climate change, promote clean energy solutions, and encourage people to take action to reduce their carbon footprint
• Mobilise worldwide support: A local group or national body is by definition limited in its reach. But issues like climate change are global, and action needs to be taken by governments and corporations internationally. Social media allows climate activists to connect with people all over the world in many different languages. For example, world climate movement 350.org uses social media to mobilise people to take action on climate change. It uses social media platforms to organize campaigns, share news and updates about climate-related events, and encourage people to get involved in climate activism
• Amplify a message: When it comes to a particular campaign or message, social media can help get the word out around the world, quickly and at low cost. That means that a specific climate change campaign can be rolled out globally in seconds
• Increase transparency: Social media is powerful tool that activists can use to hold governments (and global corporations) to account for their actions or inactions, and where necessary to cast a light on harmful future plans or any possible wrongdoing

Of course there are some potential drawbacks to the use of social media in activism and these include:

• Being a substitute for real action: Perhaps the biggest criticism of social media is that it can make it too easy for people to feel like they are “doing their bit” when all they are doing is “liking” a Facebook post or retweeting a message. But there is little evidence that this type of social media activism replaces other types of activism. It may be that social media is now just a new “first rung” in the ladder of engagement with activist causes
• Allowing false information to spread: the use of social media assumes that users are discerning in what they believe. There is always the possibility that parties opposed to climate change activism can join discussions to spread disinformation or to change the narrative
• Potential for division: the use of social media can lead to divisions, as different groups and individuals have different goals and approaches to achieving those goals. Social media allows disagreements about these to be aired in public

There is one final things that climate change organisations in particular need to be aware of when it comes to social media. It’s ironic, but social media platforms consume significant amounts of energy, and this contributes to greenhouse gas emissions which exacerbates the climate change problem.

That being said, there is compelling evidence that  social media platforms can be a powerful tool that activist organisations can use to promote their causes around the world.