Online Activism

I found the talk and article on online activism to be very interesting. One of the biggest things that I have been interested in is learning about the difference between passive and active non-violence and the effectiveness of each. On the exterior, it seems that cyber activism would have little to no effect. However, I learned that cyber protests are a lot more helpful than they seem.
First of all, online protests create a great deal of media attention. This is very important because the media plays a big role in non-violent movements by raising awareness to get the issue out into the open, which can do big things for a movement.
Secondly, it seems to me that online protests have an ability to get in touch with a lot of people who are unable for whatever reason to protest in the normal sense.
Other benefits of online activism are ones that I have participated in before, which are letter writing campaigns. This is more of an email-writing campaign but through Amnesty International it is possible to get through to people through masses of email-writing. Also, awareness through Youtube has potential to spread important messages as well. Although these are certainly passive methods, awareness is important and can help whatever issues are in question.
Online activism seems to be a good way, especially with technology being such a prevalent part of today's world, to spread awareness and make a difference for different non-violent movements. It is not the most active way of becoming active; however, it is important and should be considered as an important part of non-violence today.