Environmental Clicktivism: A Social Media Movement

Abstract

As social media continually evolve and grow rapidly; it had been used to raise more social awareness and even promote social action. This study was conducted to generate a theory that focuses on the use social media in raising awareness on environmental problems and issues. Using purposive sampling, 15 participants (n = 15 interviews) were recruited who have qualified the inclusion criteria. Active Interviewing and Glasserian grounded theory design were utilized to guide the selecting and coding of the interview to identify the emerging categories and generate a substantive theory. Each interview was *10-20 minutes and was digitally recorded and professionally transcribed. Data collection focused on participants’ understanding of the use of their social media in raising environmental awareness. At descriptive analysis, five themes emerged which characterized the participants’ responses: (1) environmental awareness, (2) social activism, (3) socio-environmental interconnectivity, (4) motivation, and (5) the nature of social media. Based on the themes that emerged, Mutya’s Theory of Environmental Clicktivism was generated which describes the social activism on environmental awareness. This theory explains that experiences play a vital role in raising environmental awareness to transfer awareness into realization in which paradoxically creates skeptical feelings and attitudes prompting them to post on social media. In return, social media serves as a tool for proactively resolving environmental issues and problems