Kony 2012 in 10 steps

From NGO experiment to global media phenomenon to shit-storm and back? The Kony 2012 campaign is already a remarkable – the most remarkable? – social media and social change phenomenon in 2012.

While it started with a video, the real phenomenon is the storm that followed – criticism, advice, comment, background, debate. While I find the debate highly interesting and valuable, it’s easy to get lost.

So, here a 10-step-guide to what happened in the first 2 days of the Kony debate:

0 – the work behind

It all actually started years back – with the (rather small) NGO called Invisible Children working on projects, including such hands-on and local based as the LRA Crisis Tracker.

1 – the video

Then came THE VIDEO – the video that was supposed to get 500,000 hits in 2012, but got 50 million in two days:

2 – the Visible Children response

Success breeds critique – here’s one of the first, written by an independent blogger, published on the ad-hoc blog http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

3 – a controversial pic

Whatever you do as an NGO – don’t pose with guns. Pics stay online forever.

4 – a viral mess and a drinking game

Viral success over-night breeds it’s own problems – and what used to be your midnight-joke can be come global politics.

5 – complicated things in foreign policy

Then, media outlets jumped on it, in a speed unimaginable before. See that response in Big Old Auntie Foreign Policy – guess what, African matters are complex!

6 – a book-length self-defense

If social media is all about dialogue – here we go, with a lengthy and detailed self-defense.

7 – a case of charity envy?

With criticism abounding – is the Kony 2012 debate a case of charity envy?

8 – african voices responding

Let’s have a real global debate – and Africans voices are obviously now a natural part of this- See an overview on African voices on Kony 2012 here, or watch the powerful one below:

9 – the ‘first’ interview

While we’ll see a lot more interviews probably, here’s a GOOD and early one.

10 – to be continued…

For sure! Feel free to post your responses below…