# I'm a serial slacktivist and proud…

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/02/21/i039m-serial-slacktivist-and-proud/
- Published: 2011-02-21T19:43:09+00:00
- Author: Kevin Baughen

**Following the most recent London [NFPTweetup](http://www.nfptweetup.org/blog) 
meeting of charity social media users, I was interested to read a thought-provoking
and increasingly commented upon [blog from @SamRSparrow](http://cakeandlife.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/are-you-a-lazy-activist-slacktivism-starts-here)(
aka Samantha Sparrow) about ‘slacktivism’. **

For those of you new to this term, and according to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slactivism);

> “the word slacktivism is usually considered a pejorative term that describes “
> feel-good” measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little 
> or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction.
> The acts tend to require minimal personal effort from the slacktivist. Examples
> of activities labeled as “slacktivist” include signing [internet petitions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_petition),
> the wearing of [awareness ribbons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awareness_ribbons)
> or [awareness bracelets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awareness_bracelets) with
> political messages, putting a [ribbon magnet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_ribbon#Middle_East_conflicts)
> on a vehicle, writing blogs or statuses about issues on social networking sites,
> joining a [Facebook](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook) group, posting issue-
> oriented [YouTube](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube) videos, or altering one’s
> personal data or [avatar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_%28computing%29)
> on [social network services](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service)“.
> 
> ## Advertisement
> 

This suggests to me that being a ‘slacktivist’ is considered a bad thing by at least
the authors of the definition, who, are the truly engaged and spend their time moving
heaven and earth to change the world. You do indeed do a great job but please get
over yourselves.

Samantha’s blog suggests that being a slacktivist might not be such a bad thing 
and that many people are involved with charities at this level. And I couldn’t agree
more. Millions of pounds have been raised by people wearing charity bracelets. Hundreds
of millions have been raised through slacktivists supporting initiatives like Comic
Relief, Children in Need and DEC Appeals. I don’t see anything pejorative about 
that.

[Read more](http://bottomlineideas.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/im-a-serial-slacktivist-and-proud)
at the Bottom Line Ideas Blog…

 * **[First Irish Fundraisers' Tweetup tomorrow](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/02/23/first-irish-fundraisers039-tweetup-tomorrow/)**(
   23 February 2011)
 * **[NFPtweetup: how can charities use gamification?](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/03/17/nfptweetup-how-can-charities-use-gamification/)**(
   17 March 2013)
 * **[Maybe we should all be more Owl](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/07/05/maybe-we-should-all-be-more-owl/)**(
   5 July 2016)