Noland and Gladwell agree in considering online activism capable of drawing the public’s attention toward specific topics but often unable to invoke a real offline commitment to the cause. For one thing, Noland (2020) provides an example of a successful ALS Ice Bucket Challenge event during the Summer of 2014. However, he notes that although online activists are generally more likely to participate in a political or social discussion or sign a petition, they are reluctant to engage further (Noland, 2020, p. 267). For another, Gladwell (2010) presents a case of a person’s lost cellphone retrieval made possible by the story’s public disclosure. Nevertheless, the deceptiveness of an Iran Twitter revolution, where its prominent online supporters were predominantly not from Iran, proves the tendency of online activists to avoid real commitment (Gladwell, 2010). To sum up, researchers agree that online activism’s contribution to people’s further offline engagement is in inverse relationship with required effort and behavioral change.
On the contrary, considering online activism’s possible contribution to the social movement’s success, Noland and Gladwell have different opinions. On the one hand, Noland (2020) highlights a considerable online activism’s effect on people’s intentions. In this context, engaging in online activism might not be a reliable action predictor, but the intention is. Thus, if online activism’s focus changes from persuading people about the outcomes of specific behavior to “increasing the positive valence of attitudes” toward it, the movement’s chances for success will increase (Noland, 2020, p. 280). On the other hand, Gladwell (2010) utterly discards online activism’s ability to contribute to social movement’s success. Firstly, he emphasizes the weak ties among people online, which “seldom lead to high-risk activism” (Gladwell, 2010). Secondly, Gladwell (2010) claims that online networks lack the needed organization. It makes them adaptive and resilient in low-risk situations but at the same time indecisive and leaderless in high-risk ones. Overall, researchers disagree on online activism’s ability to invoke significant social change.
References
Gladwell, M. (2010). Small change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker.
Noland, A. (2020). Like, share, retweet: Testing competing models of the theory of planned behavior to predict slacktivism engagement. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 32(3), 264-285.