UNICEF Tells Slacktivists: Give Money, Not Facebook Likes

Charity: Give Money, Not Facebook Likes

In the beginning, organizations wanted you to like the heck out of their Facebook pages. Why? You know, community-building, awareness-raising, general "engagement"-upping. After all, social sharing can do amazing things. It helped spark the Arab Spring (err, or maybe just sort of). And more tamely, it can shame a homophobic fast-food chain, temporarily make Joseph Kony a household name, and even help you find your birth mom.

But one thing clicking "like" doesn't do is, say, get malaria nets to African villages or boost funding for charity groups. And now that Facebook is nearly 9 years old and Twitter is 7, we're seeing the inevitable backlash against social-media "slacktivism."

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