Editing Slacktivism (section)

== Use of the term ==
The term was coined by Dwight Ozard and Fred Clark in 1995 at the [[Cornerstone Festival]]. The term was meant to shorten the phrase slacker activism, which refers to bottom-up activities by young people to affect society on a small, personal scale (such as planting a tree, as opposed to participating in a protest). The term originally had a positive connotation.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Henrik Serup|last=Christensen|title=Political activities on the internet: slacktivism or political participation by other means?|journal=First Monday|year=2011|volume=16|url=https://firstmonday.org/article/view/3336/2767|access-date=November 3, 2011|doi=10.5210/fm.v16i2.3336|archive-date=May 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528191324/https://firstmonday.org/article/view/3336/2767|url-status=live |doi-access= free|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Monty Phan, staff writer for ''[[Newsday]]'', was an early user of the term in his 2001 article titled, "On the Net, 'Slacktivism'/Do-Gooders Flood In-Boxes."<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.newsday.com/news/on-the-net-slacktivism-do-gooders-flood-in-boxes-1.386542 | date = February 26, 2001 | last = Phan | first = Monty | newspaper = Newsday | title = On the Net, "Slacktivism' / Do-gooders flood in-boxes | access-date = December 1, 2012 | archive-date = March 11, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210311105807/https://www.newsday.com/news/on-the-net-slacktivism-do-gooders-flood-in-boxes-1.386542 | url-status = live }}</ref>

An early example of using the term "slacktivism" appeared in Barnaby Feder's article in ''The New York Times'' called "They Weren't Careful What They Hoped For." Feder quoted anti-scam crusader Barbara Mikkelson of ''[[Snopes]]'', who described activities such as those listed above. "It's all fed by slacktivism ... the desire people have to do something good without getting out of their chair."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feder |first=Barnaby J. |date=2002-05-29 |title=They Weren't Careful What They Hoped For |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/29/nyregion/they-weren-t-careful-what-they-hoped-for.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323194948/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/29/nyregion/they-weren-t-careful-what-they-hoped-for.html |archive-date=2021-03-23 |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Another example of the term "Slacktivism" appeared in [[Evgeny Morozov]]'s book, ''[[Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom]]'' (2011). In it, Morozov relates slacktivism to the Colding-Jørgensen experiment. In 2009, a Danish psychologist named Anders Colding-Jørgensen created a fictitious Facebook group as part of his research. On the page, he posted an announcement suggesting that the Copenhagen city authorities would be demolishing the historical [[Stork Fountain]]. Within the first day, 125 Facebook members joined Colding-Jørgensen's. The number of fans began to grow at a staggering rate, eventually reaching 27,500.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://virkeligheden.dk/2009/stork-fountain-experiment-1-facebook-groups-are-not-democratic-tools/ |title=Stork Fountain Experiment #1: Why Facebook groups are not democratic tools {{pipe}} Virkeligheden |publisher=Virkeligheden.dk |date=September 23, 2009 |access-date=July 24, 2014 |archive-date=December 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220005424/http://virkeligheden.dk/2009/stork-fountain-experiment-1-facebook-groups-are-not-democratic-tools/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Morozov argues the Colding-Jørgensen experiment reveals a key component of slacktivism: "When communication costs are low, groups can easily spring into action."<ref name="Morozov 2011 180">{{cite book|last=Morozov|first=Evgeny|title=The net delusion : the dark side of Internet freedom|year=2011|publisher=PublicAffairs|location=New York|page=180}}</ref> [[Clay Shirky]] similarly characterized slacktivism as "ridiculously easy group forming".<ref name="Morozov 2011 180"/>