Online Actions and Social Change Principles

Social Change and Social Media

Community Organizing Online

facilitated by Ivan Boothe

What are some principles we can determine from successful social change campaigns using social media?

• Campaigns that bridge existing divides
• Should allow discussion
• Should not inhibit discussion
  • (i.e. how much nuance is lost in online discussion)
• Create safe spaces
• Role of memes online
  • how small idea snippets can spread very fast to huge number of ideas
  • brevity makes them both powerful and trivial
• Power of story-telling
• Narrative shaping
• Listen to what people are talking about
• Timing: connected to external event / advocacy hook
• Small initial ask, measured frequency
• Feedback, transparency about action's progress
• Amplifying people's own stories rather than trying to speak for them
• Not everyone is online
• Media kits: offline actions and materials distributed online
• Go where the people are
• One campaign, not divided between online and offline
• Connected to specific, clear action and clear impact
• Theory of change
• Tap into existing online and offline networks
• Faster organizational response to conditions
• Strong emotion: humor / outrage

Notes

• Unplanned aspects can make things spread faster
  • i.e. opponent reaction can make things spread
  • See "Streisand Effect"
  • Making repression / reaction visible

• Online organizing forces reevaluation of "what is a win?"
  • small successes amplify aspects of campaign

• Ladder of Engagement
  • ask people to do small tasks, and then increasingly greater asks and engagement
  • clicktivism can be gateway to broader actions

• Upwell.us has interesting analysis of the life-cycle of an online campaign
  • offers issue space analysis for other orgs

• Having institutional infrastructure in place can help when unexpected event catalyzes online campaign
  • Orgs can use their position to amplify them online
  • Orgs don't have to wait, orgs can find events to amplify

• Theory of power
  • Conventional idea: power is at the top of the pyramid and to depose it, you must do so at the top
  • vs community organizing: power is at the bottom and can topple top though action

Examples of Actions

• Free Fare Movement in Brazil
  • started with relatively small demonstration 100 or so people in Sao Paulo
  • crushed by ruthless police repression, recorded by cellphones and shared online
  • in a couple weeks 10s of millions people protesting
  • major fare reductions in every metropolitan area in Brazil
  • nearly shut down Federations Cup football match
  • connecting government spending to things not to people

• Critique: Image of delivery of box of printed Facebook thumbs with "Likes" in Philippines

• We are the 99% Tumblr

• MoveOn feedback about success or status of actions and org requests

• San Francisco eviction defense
  • very moving story from individual, broadcast widely
  • distilled simmering anger at growing gentrification

• Creating a safe space can become insular.
  • Discussion of messaging disconnected from their target audiences
  • For marginalized communities, social media provide opportunity to reach broader audiences

• Rainforest Action Network had been working on palm oil for a long time
  • When Girl Scouts connected rainforest destruction to cookie ingredients issue blew up big

• UC Davis pepper spray
  • students had encircled the police
  • provoked reaction

• Twitter stories from advocate about how US work on trafficking is having consequences on treatment of sex workers
  • results in journalists contacting advocate