Invisible Children Raises the Bar for Mass Media.

Invisible Children is a movement to get the United States government to stop the killing in Northern Uganda 

and the rescue of Joseph Kony's child soldiers. The amazing aspect of this non-profit organization is how they organize

people and rally support for their cause. The first step that Invisible Children (IC for short) takes is to get the message

across of what they everyday people like you and I to do. This is accomplished through groups on Facebook and Twitter

feeds and visits to schools and communities. 

After people are aware of such a cause, they want to know why they should

support it. This is where the powerful footage and narrative of the IC videos come in. The videos such as this one are

excellent ways of conveying the raw emotion and sadness of the situation in Uganda. Once people are on board and

supporting IC, they sport t-shirts, banners and other paraphernalia that promote the IC cause. This is akin to a type of

advertisement for the cause. The viral spread of such a powerful issue is a perfect example of modern mass media. Free

social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter promote such groups further.

Invisible Children could further their cause and fan base by branching out to other forms of media. As of now, IC is

mainly limited to the Internet. If they could get some time on television as an actual program it would get the message out

to more people, mainly older people who don't use social networking as much as younger folk. Obviously you can't get a TV show
overnight, so perhaps they can start with commercials, TV spots, TV spots during big events (football games) and then specials 
on channels such as History, Discovery and others. 
This would be another excellent way to effectively spread information.

I would like to just comment about the IC project as a whole. In the main video, you see how hopeless it seems at

some points. The project looks like a failure when Oprah fails to come out and address their cause. But the team stands strong and

doesn't give up. I feel that this is an important lesson we can all learn from. I can relate this to my experience rowing and

I'm sure everyone else can relate it to something in their life. If you believe in something, you should never back down or

give up until you truly cannot continue. There is always a chance, and as long as the dream is alive and you believe,

anything is possible (for example, the 2008 IRAs where Cornell walks back and beats Yale, I know I couldn't help but have

another rowing reference so forgive me).

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