"Kony 2012" gone viral

Since march the 5th a film made by the organization Invisible Children has gotton nearly 50 million views on You Tube. This film "Kony 2012" aims at raising awareness worldwide and stopping Joseph Kony the leader of the LRA, a rebel group in Africa by the end of this year. The film want's to do this by making Kony famous, giving him celebrity status and making him a household name which in turn will force governments, mainly America to capture him. The film certainly has achieved it's virality but also has put the organization under scrutiny. People argue that what they state in the film is untrue and that stopping Kony will not stop the LRA.

Although it is bringing the situation to light and using social media's power to do so, The video has been viewed nearly 50 million times on youtube in 4 days, #Kony2012, #Kony, #Uganda, #LRA have become worldwide trends on Twitter, the campaign has been the talk of newstations/papers/articles since.

Here is the film..

What Kony 2012 does right:

- Uses social media to gain a worldwide audience fast

- Created an immersive film

- Involves people in the campaign, by allowing them to sign up for the pledge, get an action kit and so on.

- Using and making Kony a celebrity to make him known and aid in his capture.

- Used huge worldwide celebrities and politicians to back the campaign, spread the word and get their fans involved for example Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Bono, George Clooney.

- Using creative, artistic methods and peoples talents throughout the campaign

- Being Inspired and doing what they believe is right, the founders went to Uganda found a story and were shocked and promised friends they made their that they would help. They also were inspired by the arab spring and how Facebook fueled it.

- Hard work, The organization have been preparing for this campaign for years.

What Kony 2012 does wrong:

- Not intirely true statements. The LRA are not in Uganda anymore, they are in CAR, DR of Congo and South Sudan.

- Catching Kony does not mean an end to the LRA, poverty and inequality are major problems at the root of the conflict.

- Aimed mainly at an American audience

- Putting American 'advisors' on the ground in Uganda. The LRA are not in Uganda, the people may not want them there and they may have alternate motives such as oil and being near somalia.

- An aim of the film overlooked was getting america to join the International Criminal Court

- Local people are just as scared of their army as they are of the LRA.

How this effects our project and what we could take from it:

- Have correct and accurate information

- The power of social media and it's advantages and disadvantages

- Catching Kony may not be the solution

- Kony 2012 is mainly targeted at an american audience and getting the american government or army to stop Kony, we can raise awareness in Ireland and Europe and maybe see what European governments can do.

- America should join the International Criminal Court

- Kony 2012's creative methods and using peoples talents was sucessful

- Getting existing celebrities and politicians to back the campaign

- immersive and engaging content

- user/audience involvement

Links, references and more information:

http://kony2012.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

http://www.warchild.org.uk/news/kony-2012-our-response

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news

http://www.channel4.com/news/kony-2012

Twitter: #Kony2012, #Uganda , #LRA, #Kony, #stopKony, #invisiblechildren