In a digitized world where information is exchanged in fractions of a second, activist groups and organizations can quickly promote their causes. By using the internet, these groups and organizations can quickly gain followers for a cause, and initiate their plan of action to fulfill their goals. But how effective is activism when it’s promoted and spread over the internet?

As it turns out, internet activism falls well short of successful for a multitude of reasons.

The greatest aspect of the internet is the ability for a person to add whatever they wish to the vast wealth of information, and to have anybody be able to read it. This also serves to be the downfall to internet activism.

Invisible Children, a group seeking to end child abuse in Africa, distributed the Kony 2012 video. The video calls to attention Joseph Kony, the leader of a resistance group in Africa, and his use of kidnapped children in his army. The video has received over 93 million views on YouTube and has gained widespread popularity.

The video is also heavily criticized for being inaccurate and misleading. The magazine Foreign Affairs criticized the makers of the video for “manipulating the facts” and “exaggerating the abuses and murders.” While the video heavily implies that Kony’s movement has 30,000 child soldiers, he only has a few hundred followers according to The Telegraph. The video also claims that Kony is operating in Uganda, but The Telegraph points out that he has not been in the country for six years.

This blatant inaccuracy and Hollywoodesque manipulation garners strong, disproportionately large support for an issue which is not quite so important. While national genocide is occurring in and around Darfur in Sudan and accumulating little international attention, a globally miniscule issue has received international recognition. The manipulation of the public redirects their support from the more serious issues to the less important ones.

While Kony 2012 has received millions of supporters, it has already faded from relevance. In the sixth months since the video first premiered on the internet, the most the movement has accomplished have been mass gatherings worldwide. The world is still no closer to catching Joseph Kony.

This brings up another point: how effective and dedicated are internet supporters of activist groups?

While internet groups are capable of gathering a wide range of supporters, the effectiveness of the supporters is questionable. In order to join a Facebook group in support of a cause, one must simply click on a few simple buttons and you’re done. It’s that simple. A group thusly gains followers.

Commitment is another thing.

While the lack of requirements to join a cause permits thousands, or even millions, to join, few of those thousands are actually committed. Some might feel that simply being a part of the group supporting the cause means they contributed. However, this does not result in real world action.

The Boston Globe states that when people support an internet activist group, “a maximum of five percent are going take action.” This results in groups completely dissolving, meanwhile accomplishing nothing, like the Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement which protested low wages and high food prices. This group had 75,000 supporters, but never accomplished anything beyond public awareness and campaigns due to the lack of commitment from its large Facebook base of supporters.

Internet activism falls well short of productive. While it reaches a massive audience, there exist no requirements for joining a Facebook group, meaning every high-school student with a computer can supposedly become a supporter. Furthermore, the inaccuracies and manipulation utilized by such groups can lead to disproportionately large support for relatively small causes. Activist groups have a long way to go if they wish to effectively campaign for their causes on the internet.