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Using new media to build the movements for social change
by Alan Zisman (c) 2011
First
published in Columbia
Journal September 2011
Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have grown over the past few
years to world-wide popularity, offering hundreds of millions of users
a way to stay in touch with friends and family, sharing photos and
videos and more.
These tools can be used to publicize events or more, but despite their
vast popularity, most users are a bit vague on how to get beyond
posting ‘What’s on your mind’ (Facebook) or ‘What’s happening’
(Twitter).
The BC Federation of Labour has created a free, online course aimed at
helping union members take social media tools to the next level, the
Union Activist New Media Bootcamp (http://act.bcfed.ca/new-media-bootcamp-for-union-activists/).
Free, though registration (name, email, union, and postal code) is
required, the course consists of a series of online videos, and
promises to help learners ‘grow’ the number of Twitter followers and
Facebook fans, get a website or blog to the top of Google, and to teach
best practices through interviews with union communicators and new
media activists.
It consists of a 15-minute introductory video clip, six modules - each
consisting of an online video clip of 45 minutes (released in a series
throughout the summer), and an online discussion forum. (Several bonus
modules were promised, with the content not yet revealed as I write).
The modules:
• Facebook Pages
• Generating Traffic
• Using Twitter
• YouTube and Video
• Email Engagement and Lit Building
• Facebook and Google Advertising
Comments and discussion follow each module. Scrolling through them, it
quickly becomes apparent that the course has been found valuable by
activists world-wide, not just in BC; apparently it has quickly become
the most popular course offered by the BC Fed.
Kudos to the BC Fed and particularly to Jason Mann for making this
course available.
Search giant Google is looking to join the social network movement,
with its new Google+
service. In some respects, G+ seems like a combination of the best of
Twitter and Facebook, with some unique features of its own. Like
Twitter, you can follow someone – seeing what they post – without
having that person see what you post – though they might choose to
follow your posts. Like Facebook, you can post comments lengthier than
Twitter’s 140-character cut-off and responses to your comment appear as
a conversation below your initial post.
Unlike either Twitter or Facebook, Google+ makes it easy to organize
people into sets – G+ calls them ‘circles’ – and to send what you share
to only some of your ‘circles’. A teenager might want to share photos
from last night’s party with friends but not with parents, for
instance. I might want circles for people with whom I play music, for
political colleagues, and for people interested in technology. Some
people might be in multiple circles.
Being able to control who sees your posts is a very powerful feature;
you can do it on Facebook (by creating groups), but few people have
figured it out. Google+ makes it easy.
Another nice feature: hangouts. A G+ hangout is a group video call, set
up on the fly with up to ten G+ users. Video conferencing has been
around for a long time, but its never been this easy to get up and
running.
Google+ is a work in progress – in beta, as the tech-folks call it. To
join, you need an invitation. (Email me
for one). As a result, membership is currently a few tens of millions,
compared to the multiple hundreds of million on Facebook. And that
means that new users may feel like it’s a bit of a ghost town – though
many early users are claiming to be pleased with the quality of
interactions.
And it’s not yet open to organizations – just to individual users who
are told to use their real names. So if you want to use it for your
organization, you’ll need to do it as an individual member.
Coming to Vancouver, September 19-23 – Social Media Week. Vancouver is
one of a dozen cities world-wide (Beirut to Buenos Aires, Milan to
Moscow) with events that week. Events range from information sessions,
discussion groups and forums, industry-focused ‘mash-ups’, to parties.
Among them: the Accountability Summit looks at ethics, legal
implications, and transparency. A ‘Women in Social Media Mash-up’
focuses on how women are using social media to connect, collaborate,
lead and lobby. Other sessions focus on journalism, open government,
mental health, and the environment.
For more information: http://socialmediaweek.org/schedule/
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