It is impossible to absolutely quantify the amount of youth activism taking place. It is also impossible to miss the scale and power of youth engagement. With so many opportunities to contribute in various ways to such a wide variety of causes, young people will continuously and constantly put their Social Citizen skills into practice.
Indeed, the digital landscape is filled with an array of tools for young people drawn to the promise and fulfillment of activism. It offers instant information and immediate gratification, encouraging exploration and entrepreneurial adventures. The best and brightest idealists of another generation, in another time, might have entered public service.
In this respect, the ending now serves as a beginning, an opportunity to open up a conversation on- and offline about the ultimate impact of Social Citizens. The question isn’t whether Social Citizens exist or are important—they do and they are. Rather, it’s about the role that Millennials will play in their evolution, as they shape the face of activism in a digital age.
Today, these Social Citizens are dedicating themselves to activist causes using social media and online social networks. People like Ben Rattray of Change.org, Ivan Boothe and Mark Hannis of GI-Net, Matt and Jessica Flannery of Kiva, and Joe Green and Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook are using social media to improve the world, and in the process are changing the very definition of change itself.
It is too soon to tell exactly where the new model of change will lead us. But, if nothing else, it is making us think differently about change and its components. For a time, we will be living in a transitional period that consists of traditional activists and Social Citizens. A key to understanding Social Citizens is not to determine a right or a wrong, a good or bad, but simply to reflect upon what is.
Specifically, Millennials, activists, and those who fund social causes need to engage each other, and discuss the role of policy change in current activist efforts. This discourse then needs to focus on ways to motivate larger circles of young people beyond their normal networks. And it all must be done in a meaningful way, so that we can define or at least measure the successful change that is generated.
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