Abstract:

Slacktivism, which is a portmanteau of the words of "slacker" and "activism", is a term that refers to the activism performed via Internet with little or no effort such as signing an online petition, liking or sharing a content, changing the profile photo or status on social media etc. Those who criticize slacktivism argue that this is a “feel good” behavior of the participants and because of low commitment and engagement these campaigns fail to produce tangible effects. On the other hand, there are so many cases (online social campaigns) that managed to raise awareness or create change. So there are increasing number of opinions that slacktivism may be a useful way of activism to raise awareness and gain collective support in a short time for social campaigns. Also it is not possible to think of the activism of the 21st century apart from the Internet and social media. Thus slacktivists who mediate the spread of social campaigns became important actors for social marketing. Also understanding the slacktivist motivation and behavior is getting more attention in the literature.