THE largest study yet of online activism on Facebook suggests 鈥渓ikes鈥� have little to do with commitment to distant causes.
Kevin Lewis at the University of California, San Diego, and his team analysed data on the Save Darfur campaign on Facebook, which had garnered 1.2 million likes by the end of January 2010. Despite ostensible support, the online campaign raised funds that equated to ().
聯Despite ostensible support, the Save Darfur Facebook campaign raised funds of just 8 cents per 鈥榣ike鈥櫬�
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By contrast, direct mail campaigns in general elicit far higher returns. In the case of Save Darfur, responses to solicitations through the post topped $1 million in 2008 alone.
The study 鈥渄oes a great job in measuring whether an online campaign for a cause in a distant land is enough to get donations鈥�, says sociologist Zeynep Tufekci at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. 鈥淭he authors have clearly demonstrated that it is not.鈥�
In her own research on 2011鈥檚 Egyptian uprising, however, Tufekci concluded that Facebook was crucial. 鈥淚nterpersonal communication through Facebook was a key way that people learned of the protest, and social-media users were significantly more likely to be among the crucial early protesters,鈥� she says.
Every click of the 鈥渓ike鈥� button is not equal, Tufekci adds. A movement based on participants鈥� own interests is more likely to have an impact than an online display of solidarity with an obscure people in a far-off place.
