Liba Rubenstein, Tumblr's director of outreach, has heard all of your complaints.
She knows some people think online activism is lazy. She's aware that some believe what society does online is independent of what they do offline. She's heard every argument against "clicktivism."
See also: A Brief History of Online Activism
"At best, [online activists] are accused of being naive of how the world really works," she said at the Social Good Summit. "At worst, we're accused of actually degrading the very nature of activism."
But at the summit, Rubenstein and other online activists explained why "clicktavism" isn't "slacktivism".
For Jay Jaboneta, co-founder of the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, one online post translated into real life fundraising and action.
In 2010, while visiting the Philippines, Jaboneta learned about elementary school students from an island community who could only attend school if they swam to the mainland.
"I had heard of kids skipping school to go swimming," he said. "But swimming to get to school?"
Outraged, Jaboneta took to Facebook and shared the children's story online. Quickly, friends commented, asking what they could do, he said.
By spreading the word through social media, he raised enough money to buy a boat to transport the children to and from school safely.
At the Summit, Jaboneta stressed that raising the money for that first boat — and the creation of his non-profit that helps communities across the Philippines get yellow school boats — became possible by a marriage between online and offline action.
"I feel that it should work in synergy, the online and the offline efforts," he said.
Rubenstein pointed out that since Jaboneta made such a public posting about the injustices he saw, he was more socially obligated to solve the problem he highlighted.
"It holds accountability," she said "'Oh you're posting about it? What are you going to do about it?'"
Social media is still young, Rubenstein said. Since these platforms didn't exist 15 years ago, it's impossible to judge their long-term impact on society.
"It's safe to assume that the technology of the platforms are going to evolve in ways we can't even imagine," she said.
Ramya Raghavan, head of politics and causes at Google+, said technology allows activists to share the world around them and broadcast their causes to a larger audience.
She explained that the work activists do online is not independent of their offline causes. A successful activist utilizes both virtual and real-life tools to spread the message.
"It's not 'this is online, this is offline,'" Raghavan said. "It's 'what do I need to do to solve this problem?'"
About Social Good Summit
The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions and is brought to you by Mashable, The 92nd Street Y, The United Nations Foundation, The United Nations Development Programme, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ericsson. Held during U.N. Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Date: Sept. 22 through Sept. 24
Time: 12 to 6 p.m. each day
Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y.
Tickets are sold-out, but tune into the Livestream.
About Ericsson
BONUS: 10 Moving Quotes From Day 2 of Social Good Summit
Image: Mashable, Casey Kelbaugh
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