Mia Krysa

Kony 2012, as you probably remember, was a video created in 2012 to shed light on the horrible things happening in Africa — Joseph Kony, a cult leader and war criminal, was head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, who abducted children and forced them to become soldiers. The video showed graphic and disturbing content, and followed Jacob, an African child who lived his life in fear of being abducted by the LRA. It was heavy, emotional, and garnered millions of views in a short period of time.

The Viral Video That Shook the World

In 2012, I was in 6th or 7th grade, and watched Kony 2012 for the first time with a few classmates. I felt sad for the children in Africa, who were the same age as me, but living completely different lives than my classmates and I. They woke up every day and lived in fear of becoming child soldiers, while my biggest problem every day was probably what I was going to wear to school. Kony 2012 ignited something in my classmates and I where we felt like we had to participate to spread awareness, and we headed down to the computer lab to print posters of Joseph Kony to hang around the school. One of the main goals of the video was to make Kony a household name, so everyone would know who he was, which would hopefully incite more change.

That’s all I can remember about my participation in raising awareness for Kony 2012. And I think many other people felt the same way. Besides sharing the video, purchasing kits that contained bracelets (among other things), and hanging posters, there really wasn’t anything tangible to do that would guarantee change. I quickly forgot about Kony 2012, and had not thought about it again until this week.

Lessons in Virality and Digital Activism

Watching it over this week, I still felt sad for the children in Africa. But I thought, “they had to have captured Joseph Kony by now, right?” Wrong. Joseph Kony is still hiding out somewhere in Africa. While Kony 2012 captured the attention of millions of people, it didn’t create the long-lasting change they’d hoped for. Nonetheless, it taught us how powerful social media can be in creating change.

Kony 2012 “taught others how to harness the power of the web for good—and how to do it responsibly.” It showed how powerful the internet can be, and that it is possible to create a campaign that goes viral. But you have to do it correctly. In 2025, we have the opportunity to learn from Kony 2012, and do something different.