We’d rather ‘like’ a Facebook cause than donate to it

THE largest study yet of online activism on Facebook suggests “likes” 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 just 8 cents per like (Sociological Science, doi.org/rqb). 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 “does a great job in measuring whether an online campaign for a cause in a distant  land is enough to get donations”,  says sociologist Zeynep Tufekci at  the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. “The authors have clearly demonstrated that it is not.” In her own research on 2011’s Egyptian uprising, however, Tufekci Despite ostensible support, the Save Darfur Facebook campaign raised funds of just 8 cents per ‘like concluded that Facebook was crucial. “Interpersonal 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,” she says. Every click of the “like” button is not equal, Tufekci adds. A movement based on participants’ own interests is more likely to have an impact than an online display of solidarity with an obscure people in a far-off place.  Hal Hodson