Opinion: Infographics don't solve issues

Maya Campbell

Colorful, aesthetically pleasing, and easily digestible. These three traits are typical markers of infographics promoting social issues seen on platforms such as Instagram. An infographic is defined as a visual representation meant to present data or information in a quick, efficient fashion. They have long been utilized in the corporate world to convey action plans, goals, and strategies. However, today, they have been excessively employed on social media platforms to promote social justice issues.

While this is not inherently a problem, social media activism in forms like infographics could be more efficient in achieving social justice movements' goals. For example, if one posts an infographic about ways to help someone with crippling anxiety, think about how many people would be taking the time to read and then implement the "strategies" displayed.

However, infographics are most effective at one thing: gaining views. According to Sprout Social, infographics "significantly boost your reach and social presence," which makes sense due to the convenience of their format and aesthetically pleasing nature. There is one problem with this, though: the issues that these infographics talk about are not convenient or aesthetically pleasing. The difficulties that infographics try and fail to solve aren't fun. For example, depression.

Reposting a couple of infographics about the horrible reality of depression once it's in the trend cycle, and then not following through with action on the issue, is effectively the same as not doing anything at all.

However, it's not all grim. There is a way for social media activism to have an impact beyond an infographic.

Various groups like Black Lives Matter have used social media to further their issues and causes and have achieved tangible results. Due to the increasingly virtual nature of the world today, social media's reach is farther than ever and only becoming more powerful: it can be used as an effective tool to reach audiences and organize protests, walkouts, strikes, and other peaceful demonstrations that can further activism. Social media has also been used to highlight underrepresented groups and share stories, like how it was expertly employed in the #MeToo movement.

The #MeToo movement began in 2006 but gained the most traction when multiple A-list actresses took to social media to share their experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace under the hashtag #MeToo. The event sparked a mass movement of women speaking out against sexual harassment on social media, to reduce harassment in the workplace and create a safe space for victims to share their stories. This movement displayed the true potential of social media to be used for activism in place of sharing photos of one's daily frappuccino.

The duality of social media is both its greatest strength and the reason why online activism isn't taken seriously in some cases. On one hand, the sheer number of people using social media means that the audience for displays of activism is in the millions, if not billions of people. For Instagram, according to the statistics library Oberlo, the number of total users is around 1.28 billion, and that number is projected to increase to about 1.4 billion by 2025. Conversely, the amount of memes, food, and personal accounts within that 1.28 billion can serve to drown out important messages trying to be relayed on social media.

Social media can be a viable form of activism. It can achieve real-world, tangible goals. However, to achieve change, the focus of the public on social media needs to be shifted away from the colorful data displays and toward action.