Invisible Children has released the much-anticipated KONY 2012 Part II: Beyond Famous, the sequel to KONY 2012, the most viral video in Internet history.
If the original video was about making Joseph Kony famous, then Part II's purported focus is activism. At 20 minutes, the sequel implores young viewers to do something, anything, noting that since the release of KONY 2012, 57 more people have been abducted by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army.
Missing in the sequel is the voice of the organization's co-founder, Jason Russell, who was famously detained in mid-March after a public meltdown. Part II also lacks the gripping "through a child's eyes" vantage point of the original video.
Bottom line: Despite this pointed effort at responding to widespread criticism, Invisible Children remains a private interest group that allocates the overwhelming majority of its budget (nearly 70% in 2011) toward travel, compensation, administration, fundraising, making movies, and lobbying celebrities and Congress [pdf] to support its central aim: direct foreign military intervention in Africa. If the activists who made KONY 2012 so successful really want to be impactful, there are far better ways to take action than supporting Invisible Children.