‘Likes’ don’t save lives

From Your Working Girl’s Let’s Keep This All Social Media Buzz In Perspective Department, UNICEF Sweden released a compelling ad in April to bring the Facebook universe back to reality. It turns out that ‘liking’ something on Facebook doesn’t, in and of itself, do much at all.

Brandchannel makes the point the that “while brands navigate the tides of “like-currency,” it turns out that the gesture by “slacktivists” doesn’t translate into anything significant for social causes.”

“Slacktivism” the practice of “slacktivists” is defined by Urban Dictionary as “the act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix the problem.”

“After years of encouraging consumers to click for issues of conscience,” says Brandchannel, “UNICEF Sweden is the first major international charity to restate the obvious, pre-‘like’ era fact: donate money and supplies—not just virtual support.”