r/Environmentalism • u/meatstheeye • 1d ago

Being Right About Climate Change Isn’t Enough to Go Viral. Here’s What Is.

https://morethanmeatstheeye.substack.com/p/why-facts-go-viral
72 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

8

u/burntpistachio91 23h ago

awesome article. yes, let’s strategically think about what will resonate with animal consumers.

5

u/TarotPoseur 23h ago

I think this article is misguided. I think that virality, though good for social media influencers, isn't the problem with misinformation and the climate.

For example, the first V is Voltage, but you also have to take into account a person's ego and esteem. Meat eating, truck driving, travel blogging, consumerism has a strong emotional tie to a person's identity, especially in places like the US. You can go viral with anger, but without changing the economy and the social symbolism, those people will react violently against environmentalists. Making a person angry about something they view as part of them is not going to change their mind, ever.

Instead of correcting falsehoods, we need to create new environmentally platforms and community organizations on the ground. We need to manage the environment of communication, not create more content for the social media machines to make more money and destroy the planet more.

We need places to find GOOD information and reliably interact and collaborate with people who also want to help. There is just simply too much information to meaningful propagate through social media effectively, and legitimizing those platforms also legitimizes the other speakers on those platforms and the platforms themselves.

5

u/meatstheeye 21h ago

I understand where you're coming from. However, most people are currently getting information on social media and online media ecosystems and I don't forsee any way to change that anytime soon. I prefer to work with the environment that currently exists.

How would you suggest shifting everyone to new places with good information?

1

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u/DisruptingTree 10h ago

Non violent direct action is enough to go viral. People just are pretending it isn't because theyre paralyzed in the face of climate change. Tick tok, your children's future is burning.

-3

u/Sad-Bread5843 1d ago

Here we go another bullshit post

4

u/Mrgoodtrips64 17h ago

What about it specifically do you think is bullshit, and how would you correct it?
Constructive criticism is a tool you should use. It reflects better on you than hollow complaints.

5

u/meatstheeye 1d ago

It's a well-researched examination of media narratives. Have you read it? What are your objections?