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How to use social networks to mobilise and make a difference
Youth tips: Changing the world one click at a time.
First of all, don’t underestimate the power of social networks. You may think FB is simply fun and good for a few kicks, but it can make a vast difference in the world. There have been several social justice campaigns that have succeeded largely in part due to social networks.
The Pink Chaddis Campaign for example, is a campaign that asked women to send pink underwear to members of a right wing organisation that were responsible for attacks on women drinking in pubs in India. Within three days of the pink chaddis launch, the FB group had 16,000 members, and within a few months this had risen to 50,000. Due to this massive profile, the campaign got out there and was picked up by media. Thus emerged a dialogue between the extreme right and ordinary citizens who just wanted to be safe and free.
Top 10 Social Networking for Social Change Tips:
1. Try to learn and use ALL social networks as much as you can. You may be most comfortable with one already, but it is important to spread the word via as many channels as you can. MySpace, for example, may be mainly for music; but, it still can be a way to get the message across. Similarly, there may not be many people your age on Bebo, but there will be some. So, spread the message and the love as far and wide as much as you can. That being said though, while it is important to have a presence on each one, pick a few to really concentrate on. If you are a musician, that would be MySpace, but if you are an actress it may be Twitter.
2. Think outside the cyber box. Don’t just tweet on Twitter or post your status on Facebook; instead take photos and post them on Flickr or make a video/sound bite and post it on YouTube. Then, post links to these on FB or Twitter.
3. Use whatever you have to generate content. Even if you are only recording videos from your mobile, these may still be important.
4. Think about having a blog as well as using the usual social net work profiles. Nowadays, the blog is pretty essential in keeping up with an audience. In fact, if your blog becomes popular in your area, you may find yourself on others’ blogrolls, thus driving even more traffic to your own website.
5. Keep those contacts filed safely away. Never, ever, ever neglect to keep a contact on file. Every person who writes, emails or calls you should go into this file. This way, you have a ready audience to get your ideas out to.
6. Remember - not all social networks are specifically social. In fact, one of these bad boys, LinkedIn, is exclusively for business and work networking. It can also be a way to talk to other campaigners and get ideas on how they got going in their area, and how they made social change happen.
7. Use pictures. Research conducted by Jan Piskorski, Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, has indicated that people enjoy photos on online websites most of all and spend 70% of their time on these sites looking at photos. So, photos are key! Get 'em, use ’em, just put 'em on your social networking site.
8. Know WHAT you want to achieve with your social network. Have a specific strategy i.e. “We want to get 50 people to attend the climate conference on the 20th of June”, instead of “We want to solve the global crisis now.” Think monthly or quarterly campaigns, instead of long term, non-specific goals.
9. Update your networks regularly. If you have a dedicated following checking in on you, they will soon disappear if you only post an update, status, photo etc. once every two weeks. Think of websites you enjoy; most of them will be regularly updated and the forums will be packed with posts. Frequency matters for social networks.
10. Decide in advance how much time you want to spend on social networks. It is very easy to get sucked into online world, so planning for offline activities will help ensure that you're getting out there and actually making change happen.
Got any more pointers? Please drop a comment below.
