The Internet can still be a force for social good

"Kony 2012”, a film made to promote the movement to indict alleged Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony, is the latest example of how social media can be effective in drawing public attention to particular causes.

The film, produced by Invisible Children, a US-based non-profit organisation, has been created to make Kony internationally known, and therefore to bring about his arrest. The film has drawn huge international attention, largely because it is easily accessible on YouTube.

Millions of people have seen the film, including many viewers in Thailand. In spite of the distance from Uganda, the film connects with many Thai viewers because it touches upon an issue of universal concern: the rights of children. The film focuses on the exploitation of children in Uganda, Congo and Sudan, and alleges that many have been forced to be child soldiers. It also says that girls have been kidnapped and raped. 

Not surprisingly, the film has gone viral. Some mainstream media have picked up the topic for public discussion. A terrestrial TV network in Thailand featured clips from the movie. Invisible Children has thus been successful in promoting its campaign.

However, the film has also drawn criticism from some people who question whether the producers have manipulated some content to get their point across. 

Still, the film has been successful in creating discussion, and it represents another example of how people can promote causes via new technology. The digital age certainly offers great opportunities to disseminate or access information by various media, instead of having to rely on traditional media as in the past, and in this case it has brought what may have once remained a local story to all parts of the globe.

“Kony 2012” connects effectively with audiences because of its production value and its emotional pull, highlighting the plight of abused children. Not surprisingly, it has also drawn the support of concerned celebrities. Movie star Angelina Jolie has called for the arrest of the Ugandan warlord by calling him an “extraordinarily horrible human being”. Campaign posters and badge buttons have now been distributed to help spread even more awareness of the subject on streets worldwide, making this a successful combination of activism, digital communication and pop culture.

A global audience now knows the name of Joseph Kony, his military group called the Lord’s Resistance Army, and his “documented” atrocities in Uganda. A few years ago this would hardly have happened so quickly. The current campaign to expose him and bring him to justice would definitely not have been so successful without the help of the Internet. This massive interest from a global audience puts great pressure on the targeted person far more effectively than any government or independent organisation or legislative or legal process could do in the same period of time.

Nevertheless, there is a flip side to the use of social media to promote social causes. First of all, there is the question of whether issues have been simplified in order to provoke a particular reaction. This is prone to happen in an unregulated environment such as the Internet, especially when there may be many complicated background details to a given issue. Message senders sometimes simplify things in order to hook viewers who are not familiar with the issue, at the expense of important details. The images portrayed can also reflect the highly subjective view of message senders.

At any rate, the phenomenon of “Kony 2012” is just more evidence of the power of digital communication, which is bringing down boundaries and reducing the speed at which information travels. People are reaching out directly to one another via rapid interactive responses, and this is bringing both positive and negative changes.

This new era of technological development has opened up opportunities and challenges for all sides – governments, independent organisations and private citizens – over how they participate in events and reactions to those events. It can be constructive and meaningful. At the very least, “Kony 2012” shows us how technology can be used as a powerful force to encourage people with similar passions to undertake collective action.