"Goodness is the only investment that never fails." — Henry David Thoreau
I decided I would be crazy if I had a multimedia blog and didn't write about the KONY 2012 video this week. For those of you who haven't watched it yet (I don't know how that's possible), watch it now. This video has been blowing up my social media newsfeeds for days, until I had no choice but to watch it to see what everyone is talking about. If you think about it, it's amazing that they were able to get so many people talking about and watching a video that is 30 minutes long.
Regardless if you support or are a critic of the KONY 2012 video, you have to admit this proved the power of social media is amazing. The video received over 20 million views in less than 24 hours and is still continuing to grow in popularity. If you watched the video the entire way through, you'll know that the first purpose of the video was simply to make Kony famous. Regardless of if you watched the video or not, millions of people now know the name Kony.
A lot of the critics are pointing out that this is something that has been going on for years, and now the only reason people are caring about it is because it is a "fad" or "trending." First of all, the video acknowledges that this is something that has been happening for years and they haven't been able to make enough people aware of it. And the goal of the video was for as many people to share it on Facebook as possible just to get the message out there and the issue known. I agree that some people are only supporting the cause because they simply watched the video and it's popular and have done no other research, but if it's helping a good cause then why complain? Yeah, there will always be a million other problems in the world that people want to draw attention to, but the makers of this video did an amazing job of packaging the issue and letting people become involved and have a part in a simple way. I think this video speaks volumes about the power of social media and the effect it can have on the world around us. I'm interested to see how the Kony 2012 project will pan out in the next few months, and if the capture of Kony can actually be a result of a 30-minute video and social media.
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