I think the author was trying to say that these online campaigns make people feel like they've contributed and therefore don't need to participate in a street p

I think the author was trying to say that these online campaigns make people feel like they've contributed and therefore don't need to participate in a street protest. While I do see the parallel you are pointing out, I think "I care so much that I spent 5 seconds to type in my email address!" and "I care so much that I gave up a whole day of my life" might be a case of a quantitative differences large enough to be qualitative.