KONY 2012 & The Social Media Revoltion Explained!

Can Social Media stop a War? You decide..literally

 

 

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Social Media has the power to make people famous overnight through the use of videos posted on sites like YouTube or Vimeo. These videos are then spread through Social Media through website link sharing using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to name a few.

For the past 26 years the leader of the LRA army in Uganda Joseph Kony has built his troops and power through the use of child soldiers. Over the years, over 30,000 small children as young as three years old are kidnapped, brainwashed, tortured, raped, recruited into his army, and in many cases forced to kill their own parents. Thousands of people have been mutilated by this child army. In December of 2011, the United States sent 100 troops to provide assistance to the Ugandan government. To put pressure on the U.S. to keep our troops there, a campaign called KONY 2012 has been formed.

Filmmaker Jason Russell begun a nine year campaign to bring awareness to this issue, and created an video which now has over 100 million online views as of today.

Kony 2012 Facebook image

Social Media such as Facebook helps spread Videos for Kony2012

 

Social Media is being used in two ways:

1) Using Videos spread through Social Media: Turning Joseph Koney into a well known public figure to bring awareness and arrest him, stop the kidnappings, and return these children to their families.

2) An an online web portal has been created and is promoted using Social Media to encourge people to contact 20 famous U.S. celebrities (i.e. Bono, Stephen Colbert, Oprah, George Clooney, Bill Gates) & 12 influential politicians (both Democrats & Republicans including George Bush & Bill Clinton) and ask them to bring awareness to this issue.

 

By making a donation of only a few dollars to an organization called TRI, one can get an Action kit with fliers, stickers, posters, bracelets and marketing materials. These fliers & posters will be up simultaneously on April 20th nationwide to bring awareness to this issue.

 

A response to Criticism from the film was addressed here by the CEO of Invisible Children: http://vimeo.com/38344284.

 

The KONY 2012 Video and Information can be found on:

Kony 2012 Website: Kony2012.com

Invisible Chilren Website: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/invisible/kony2012

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/invisiblechildren

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/invisible

Blog on Tumblr: http://invisible.tumblr.com/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/invisibleinc/

Invisible Children, Central Africa, Northen Uganda, Joseph Kony, Jason Russell, April 20th, Bono, U2, George Bush, Stephen Colbert, Oprah, George Clooney, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Mark Zuckerberg, Angelina Jolie, Bill O’Reilly, Jay-Z, Justin Beiber, Rick Warren, Ellen Degenwres, Ben Affleck, Rihanna, Ryan Seacrest, Tim Teabow, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, Mitt Romney, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Condoleeza Rice, Action Kit, TRI, Ban Ki-Moon