What was all the talk about Kony 2012?
KONY 2012
In the past 10-20 years social media has become one of the
most predominant sources for news. Anyone who has a Facebook knows that if any
monumental event has happened you will find out on Facebook before you even
watch the news. This is essential in realizing how significant Facebook,
twitter and YouTube have become. After researching the anti- war Vietnam
movement that took place during the 60s and early 70’s, I can’t help imagine that movement taking
place during the social media era during the present time. The impact that
social networking has on the nation could have potentially been the difference
in the overthrow of the government. An example of just how fast and popular the
social networking transcends on a topic is the KONY 2012 campaign. I, like many
others, were not aware of the situations going on in Uganda. But on March 5th
2012 when a 30-minute video went up on YouTube, made by the Invisible Children
Organization, soon after it reached over 60 million viewers. The fact that the
video went viral so fast intrigues many and signifies the extraordinary impact
that social networking has and could potentially have on various issues.
KONY 2012
-1:45
The video describes a story of
Uganda’s notorious leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony, who
is accused of kidnapping thousands of children and turning them into sex slaves
and child soldiers. The main idea of the video is to encourage America to
capture Kony. Although many have mixed feelings on the subject the idea that so
many were intrigued by the video and ready to use action really foreshadows how
movements are going to evolve in the next generations to come. It’s an
impressive video and I’d encourage you to watch it if you haven’t yet already;
just to see what all of the buzz was about.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, social media played a critical role,
especially for young adults under the age of 30. The study shows how the
“Kony 2012″ video and information about it reached so many Americans in a
relatively short period of time. A few key findings:
- Nearly
two-thirds of survey participants heard about the video from some online
source.
- 27% of
adults under the age of 30 heard about the video social networks such as
Facebook and Twitter.
-Nearly 5
million tweets about the video occurred in the week following its release on
March 5, 2012.
Overall, the internet was more than three times as
important as traditional media (i.e. television, newspaper, radio) in spreading
the news about the video for adults.
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