Monthly Archives: September 2010

Letter to the Editor: "Small Change" by Malcolm Gladwell

Once in a while, you read something that irks you so much, that you have to vent in writing. I did this in 2009, when I read a terribly skewed article on teenage girls in an African newspaper; I posted it to my Facebook wall in anger, and lo and behold, STF Director Christen Brandt saw it, and that got the wheels turning for launching She’s the First.

I read an article in The New Yorker today that riled me up so much, because I thought it was an unfair assessment of social media’s power to effect social change,  and it underestimates the impact that each of you who’ve fundraised or given to She’s the First have made. So even if The New Yorker doesn’t read my letter, I at least wanted to share it here — my personal views that come from a place of deep passion for She’s the First — and I invite you to agree/disagree in the comments and even write your own letter to The New Yorker. For starters, read the article “Small Change” here. (And if you ever write a letter to the editor that speaks to what She’s the First is all about, email it to us! We’ll publish it.)

Through a Retweet, I clicked through to “Small Change ” by Malcolm Gladwell today. I’m sure you knew promoting the article on social media would get a rise out of the very audience whom Gladwell undermines. I’ve read The Tipping Point and found it to be a fascinating explanation on why things as odd as Silly Bandz can sweep our culture, so I was surprised to find myself in such intense opposition with Gladwell on the power of social media to effect social change. I am a social media activist, the founder of She’s the First, a global grassroots movement to sponsor girls’ education in the developing world. I have an endless to-do list as I oversee our offline events, online multimedia, and strategic development—all done with passion, not pay, outside my full-time job—and writing Letters to Editors isn’t typically something I prioritize. But this article required it.

First, you should know that within 15 minutes of posting this article to my own Facebook page with commentary on how it irked me, I received three ‘likes’ from friends and two comments encouraging me to write this letter. And I will post this letter to my Facebook so that even if you don’t publish it, my peers will know how misunderstood our platform can be, and why we have to take the time to defend it–because it is what we will be remembered for someday.

Now here’s the tremendous fallacy I find with Mr. Gladwell’s article: why are we pitting offline action against online action? Since when have we had to pick one tactic over the other? Because in the She’s the First movement of 1,738 Facebook friends and 1,205 Twitter followers who came together in less than a year, activism is about bringing together the best of offline and online action. Our supporters are hosting creative, affordable fundraisers in one night–benefit concerts, parties with purpose–to collect small donations that add up to one-year sponsorships for a girl’s education . We use Twitter and Facebook to inspire each other with our fundraising ideas and to promote our events to our local communities, sometimes also attracting donations via mail or Internet from those who can only be there in spirit. I appreciate that Mr. Gladwell sees the strengths of social media (“Social networks are effective at increasing participation,” he writes), and I agree with the flaws that he points out: it “lessen[s] the level of motivation that participation requires.” Yes, it’s easy to get someone to click their support, and not all 1,738 of our Facebook friends are going to have the initiative to host their own fundraiser, but you cannot underestimate the influence of your cause spreading through their networks. Continue reading →