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warm-GLOW giving, ENCOURAGES IMPURE ALTRUISM AND HOW cyber-activism  

By Colleen Yau

“cyber-activism”

Is the use of digital

social causes.  

Communication technologies,

Such as social media,  

Eg. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, #bringbackourgirls

To support and advance

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(12)  

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On Social media makes it easy

Social    

Social  issues,  without  taking  

issues. We do not have to leave

effort, or make any real action.

However, cyber-activism

To ”appear” engaged in social

our computers, put much (12)  

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Cone communications found that among 1200 Americans, 70%

social issues and how to create positive social change offline, Say they use digital media to learn ABOUT

But only 25% followed through in

real life. (10)  

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Why  is there

No action

In real life

cyber activism on social media,

such as “liking” and “sharing” social causes and donations, is often motivated by self-interest, known  As warm-glow giving, ”

“  

Eg. boosting self esteem.

(1)  

(14)  

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“SOcial media has made us

Oxford University Internet Institute

think more about ourselves.”  

- Dr. Bernie Hogan,

(9)  

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our self esteem is based on

public contingencies , Such as others’ approval   Andoutdoing competition.  

(4)  

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We”like” and

“share” social Issues on

As a Way of Social media

presenting A good side

Of ourselves for Others to see And approve.

(11)  

(9)  

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“social sharing of information is Sharing Information. It’s about the sharer

letting everyone know that they are knowledgeable or right-thinking or caring.”

often not actually about  

– Katherine Connell

(2)  

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Marco Castillo et al  Found that individuals who make a donation To charity are more likely to share

This event through a general Facebook wall post,   rather than direct message, And larger donations increase the willingness to share this event on Facebook by 4%.  

(1)  

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We”like” and

“share” social Issues on

As a form of Social media

Social To look better

than Others, and Outdo

Competition.

comparison

(4)  

(8)  

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“Humans are naturally competitive.” - Christine Erickson

(4)  

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Croson and Sheng Found that donors who were told that another member had donated $300, would give

29% more than those donors who who were not given this information. (3)  

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However, if our cyber-activism is is motivated by warm-glow giving

then cyber-activism can  Encourage impure altruism.

And boosting self esteem,

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  is the selfless concern  Altruism is  

for the welfare of others.  - The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

(6)  

Pure

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But when we attribute our warm-glow giving and self-interested

cyber activism as pure altruism, we

Mistakenly view ourselves as altruistic.

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“I share, therefore I am.” - Sherry Turkle

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“I “share” and “Tweet” and “like” and “donate”

to social causes online, therefore I am altruistic.

Similarly,

I have contributed enough to the cause.

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University of British Columbia found that

likely to donate to that cause.

people who “liked” a cause on Facebook were less   (7)  

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we think we have displayed

online.  

Pure altruism and done our part by simply being engaged  

Why?

(2)  

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“In their minds, they have already contributed to

the cause.” - Scott Gilmore

(7)  

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DOMINATED SOCIAL MEDIA and conversation

Activists in Nigeria Tried to reignite the trend

However, there was littleinterest from International news outlets, and

IN THE SPRING, but was gone by the summer. In October,

and create a worldwide week of action.

social media.  

#BRINGBACKOURGIRLS  

Consequently,

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Do not participate In cyber-activism alone.  Actively seek out real life involvement,

Or even organize your own event. Campaign with friends

therefore

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(5)  

(8)  

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A click is not enough to have impact on the world. “ ” Let’s encourage true altruism that  goes beyond social media.

(10)  

(1) Castillo, M., Petrie, R., & Wardell, C. (2014). Fundraising through online social networks: A field experiment on peer-to-peer solicitation. Journal of Public Economics, 114, 29-35.

(2) Connell, K. (2014, April 25). The shallow selfishness of social media sharing. The Federalist. Retrieved fromhttp://thefederalist.com/2014/04/25/the-shallow-selfishness-of-social-media-sharing/ (3) Croson, R. & Sheng, J. (2009). A field experiment in charitable contribution: The impact of social information on the voluntary provision of public goods. The Economic

Journal, 119(540), 1422-1439 (4) Erikson, C. (2013, Feb. 15). The social psychology of the selfie. Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2013/02/15/social-media-and-the-selfie/ (5) Faw, L. (2012, Oct. 23). Are millennials lazy or avant-garde social activists? Forbes. Retrieved from

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2012/10/23/are-millennials-lazy-or-avant-garde-social-activists/ (6) Gershbein, J.D. (2014, Jan. 12). Altruism in social networking: Doing good deeds online. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jd-gershbein/altruism-in-social-networ_b_6249494.html (7) Gilmore, S. (2014, Nov. 11). The problem with #slacktivism. Maclean’s. Retrieved from http://www.macleans.ca/society/the-real-problem-with-slacktivism/ (8) Harper, F., Li, S., Chen, Y., & Konstan, J. (2007). Social comparisons to motivate contributions to an online community. Persuasive Technology, 4744, 148-159 (9) Harvey, D. (2014, Jun 12). Has social media made young people more selfish? BBC. Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/27810059/has-social-media-made-young-people-more-selfish  (10) Kielburger, C., & Kielburger, M. (2015, April 10). A click is not enough to have impact on world. Canoe News. Retrieved from

http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/World/2015/04/10/22337541.html (11) Ma, W. & Chan, A. (2014). Knowledge sharing and social media: Altruism, perceived online attachment motivation, and perceived online relationship commitment.

Computers in Human Behavior, 39, 51-58. (12) Stern, C. (2015, Mar. 31). In praise of clicktivism. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caryl-m-stern/in-praise-of-clicktivism_b_6978314.html (13) Turkle, S. (2013, Dec. 15). The documented life. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/opinion/the-documented-life.html?_r=0 (14) Widdowson, N. (2014, May 20). Can social media increase altruism? Queensland University of Technology. Retrieved from

https://www.qut.edu.au/news/news?news-id=72817

 

WORKS CITED