In the second chapter of By Any Media Necessary, Henry Jenkins demonstrates different aspects of social movements that are affected and evolving through social media. He does this by introducing us to a human rights organization group called the Invisible Children (IC). In 2012 this group released a video called Kony 212, focusing on child soldiering in Uganda, that went viral with over 100 million views within the first week it was posted.
Key Ideas
Grassroots movement- A movement that’s basis is made up of people in a given area that are advocating for their own message.
Spreadability- The ways that content may be circulated actively via social media. What do you think makes something easily spreadable on social media?
Drillability- The learning opportunities that exist beyond initial contact with the message.
Invisible Children- An organization that was founded in 2004 who’s goal is to increase awareness of the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony.
Kony 212- The 30 minute video released by the Invisible Children to raise awareness about child soldiering in Uganda, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and Jospeh Kony.
Many posts referring to certain activist movements lack a call to action, or ability to really help the cause at hand. This post is in the popular format people tend to repost on their stories to raise awareness or show support for movements, it is colorful and eye catching. Yet people tend not to fact check the information in the post, link a place for people to donate or help outside of the internet, or give credit to the people pushing out this information. These posts are easily spreadable, but not easily drillable as it is hard to dig deeper and find more information.
This video, posted by Gary Chambers, shows him speaking out to an elected official on changing the name of Lee High, as it has ties to Confederate officials. Along with posting this video he includes in his caption emails on the this board that people can email to fight for the cause he is supporting. This gives people a call to action, something that they can act upon other than just liking the post. This is also an example of grassroot movements that are mentioned in the book. These movement can also be described as bottom-up movements, as local people that are being effected by a problem are speaking out to higher up officials in the government to make a change.
This is a Instagram post from famous actor Rainn Wilson, most commonly known from The Office, where he is prompting people to vote in order to support climate change. Not only that, but he legally changed his name to Rainfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson to promote the message of global warming. When a celebrity posts something to their fanbase, Jenkins describes that this forms a sort of “audience” rather than a “public”. Audiences are produced by certain measurable acts, numbers of views, or amounts of money that are donated. While a public is formed solely on directing attention to their cause. Both are ways of ensuring numbers and attention are brought to your cause.
Media x Social Change 
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