Effective Advocacy on Social Media

A lot of awful things were done to put an end to the Prophet’s efforts. People mocked him, threatened his loved ones, and even went as far as physically assaulting him too. But his steadfastness kept him going, as he held on strongly to his main mission and purpose.

Now or Never

In a hadith by Al-Bukhari, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Convey (my teachings) to the people even if it were a single sentence” [Narrated by Imam Bukhari]

The Prophet’s teachings are not limited to the subjects that we normally would think of, such as, prayer and fasting, but his teachings extend well beyond that. If you feel strongly about a movement because of the nobility of its cause and wish to become an advocate for it, chances are, it is a cause that aligns with our faith’s teachings. So, for anyone who is on the fence about joining an advocacy group, you can be more assured moving forward.

For example, if you wish to advocate for better environmental care, or for policies to be tighter on child protection against abusive family members – know that these causes line up nicely to the values of our tradition.

Da’wah and advocacy come in many different forms. And today, the adoption and use of social media is widespread in every part of our lives and can be utilised as one of the tools to get the job done.

Social Media: The Social Dilemma

In today’s world, the use of social media has become a norm in our daily lives. It plays an important role in society as it is one of the main sources for users to access and share information with friends and followers.

Although it brings convenience and has many advantages, anyone who wishes to partake in advocacy work will need to be aware that there are also challenges and threats that come along with these platforms.

Social media is interactive and allows for the creation, sharing, and exchange of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.

These virtual networks present a huge opportunity for us to reach out and engage people who may not know about the causes that we believe to be important.

Think of social media as a platform that amplifies our voice in order for our message to have extensive reach beyond our smaller circles. Platforms like this offer the ease of creating content, posting it, sharing it, and getting immediate input, feedback, and results.

Advocacy work done through simply flexing our fingertips does have its pros and cons. As we know, one of the superpowers of social media is that it has the ability to accelerate the spread of information rapidly. And this is helped by the “share” button. A post that has gone viral, may have gotten there because of overwhelming love and compassion, or due to widespread hate and anger.

One of the downsides to it is that it leads to the problem of people having an influx of information. The excessiveness of information may trigger confusion amongst users and cause them to not be able to discriminate between right and wrong. The algorithm on these platforms may also lead to confirmation bias, as you will be fed more of the same content that you have viewed or liked before.

The Best Practices

Always be courteous and respectful.