Of course, social awareness doesn't always translate into success. Does anyone say that it does?

Does it translate into success? Of course it can. And done well, it can have outstanding results (ALS ice bucket challenge). Many of the very successful GoFundMe campaigns. Duggar's stupid show being cancelled (like it or hate that result, social media made that happen - the network was very well aware of their stars' past but only cancelled when everyone else became aware).

But does social awareness especially at a viral level, do nothing?? Had YOU ever heard of the Boko Haram girls before the campaign? Did you even know it was going on?

I am not sure what your links are attempting to prove: one is simply a blog post, that agrees with you. The other are articles about the intractable nature of the problem.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/01/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-hostages-rescued/

I'd be curious whether you believed that 1) more? or less? people would have heard of the Boko Haram case had it not gone viral, and 2) whether that is a good thing or not?



You seem to want to make an anti social media point. Fine. You are picking the wrong cases. There are dozens that never got off the ground that you should use. But to pick a few of the biggest, that did, is a failed strategy.