( CNN ) -- Let 's give praise where praise is due . Invisible Children 's Kony 2012 viral video campaign has done what no other advocacy organization has been able to do until now : capture 29 minutes worth of attention from over 50 million people worldwide . No amount of advertising genius from `` Mad Men '' could create that kind of buzz in a few days . In less than a week , Invisible Children ( IC ) has cemented the legitimacy of social media for global engagement if the Arab Spring had n't already . But the problem is , as many have pointed out , it is the wrong conversation and wrong buzz . Which is just too bad because this campaign has the makings of what could have been a truly transformational development communication experiment . In two weeks , IC will have millions of dollars ; you will have a t-shirt and bracelet ; and Uganda and Central Africa will be left wondering what just happened . As we saw in the case of the Arab Spring social media-accelerated uprising , the agents of the conversation were those directly affected by the cause du jour - which at the time was to oust decades-long dictatorial rule . Instead , what we have here is a narrowly-focused fund-raising campaign where one organization inserts itself as the agent of change to a foreign travesty against humanity . Once again , let me be clear , there 's nothing wrong with bringing attention to the issue . It 's how it was done that I lament . In a few weeks , this breathless enthusiasm will be for naught . Read also : 'Kony 2012 ' viral video raises questions about filmmakers . Had we all more compassion , more empathy for global atrocities , the daily videos of sniper fire and innocents being killed from Syria would have moved us by now to say `` do something . '' But they have n't . Why ? Because no one has invaded our Facebook time line demanding we watch a 30-minute Hollywood production simplifying the issue for us . It is an indictment on what moves us to act . What does it say about our capacity to care when we are barely moved by video shot on shaky cellphone cameras of innocent people being slaughtered , but we suddenly get a collective conscious because of a slick Hollywood production documenting a 25-year-old issue on the decline . More children die of malaria , diarrhea , and nodding disease in northern Uganda on a daily basis than the monthly average of Kony 's 25 years of killing . Where 's the slick viral video for those children ? The advent of social media brought so many unheard voices to the fore , and with that voice came self-actualization . Many communities realized that they have inherent agency to be their own saviors . Kony 2012 missed a grand opportunity to empower these voices to realize the power within themselves to change their situation and surroundings . Instead , it trotted out the same tired line about Africa . Torture , rape , conscription ; tent poles for the single , sad story on Africa that Western society has come to accept . But by God we are so much more than the sum of our failures . Profile : Joseph Kony : Brutal warlord who shocked world . The charity missed an opportunity to empower the many Ugandan and Central African voices newly visible with the advent of mobile technology and social media tools on the continent . Instead of enjoining us to work together to amplify pressure on our governing bodies to address security and development holes , IC has taken the initiative to proposition an outside agency to do it for us . How are we ever going to awaken to our civil responsibility to demand more from our sitting governments if we are lulled into a dependency state for every civil service we should rightly expect from our governments ? The attention is on the wrong audience , for the wrong message , using the wrong messenger . I would have welcomed an opportunity for IC to partner with those of us visible and empowered to drive the conversation to its rightful audience , therein instilling a permanent sense of strong civic responsibility that is the basis of all modern societies . If I can take anything good from this , it is that I hope this visibility provided by IC will usher those of us Ugandans engaged in this conversation to realize we have a right to exercise our agency when we are called to do so . And when we do galvanize around an agenda that we set , that we are wise enough to partner with individuals that can accelerate that message . The opinions expressed are solely those of TMS Ruge .
Invisible Children 's ` ` in 2012 '' proves the power of social media for global engagement , says TMS Ruge . But the World Bank social media strategist says the film has ` ` wrong conversation and wrong buzz '' . Film the same story about Africa and failed to empower locals to change the situation , argues TMS Ruge . Ruge expects the Ugandans involved in this conversation to know that they have a right to exercise their agency .