Using Tech to Connect

Social Media Tools for Social Change

Web sites, cell phones, chat rooms, personal digital assistants, iPods -- all these advances in technology have transformed the way we communicate with one another. But these "social media" tools are not just important for their wizardry. They allow individuals and small groups to involve lots of people in their efforts in very interesting ways. Our challenge for using these tools for social change isn't just how we learn to use them, but how we change the way we work to use them better.

Here are four pointers to help you get the most out of social media tools:

1. Work Side-to-Side

Not side-by-side like kids in a sandbox, not you-tell-them-what-to-do-and-they-do-it. Working side-to-side means everyone participating equally in a cause to make good things happen. When people sell stuff to strangers on eBay without needing a group or person to tell them when, what, or for how much, that's working side-to-side. The same thing happens on YouTube, when we can watch what we want, when we want, and share it with friends. This is what the term "Web 2.0" refers to -- the two-way interactions between people that happen when using online tools.

The same sorts of shifts are occurring in the worlds of community activism and democracy. People don't have to be told what to do. When they feel passionate about a cause and invited to join in, they will contribute in interesting and helpful ways.

To see what working side-to-side for social change looks like, check out the "Congress in :30 Secs" campaign organized by the Sunlight Foundation, where people post a video of what they think their congressional representatives are doing all day. Or work on stopping the killing in Darfur through the Genocide Intervention Network. The MediaVolunteer.org Web site lets anyone spend just a few minutes and help many grassroots environmental organizations build and maintain media lists. For more information and help on how to use social media tools, don't miss the social media how-to's on Beth Kanter's Blog.

2. Get "Sticky"

Once you let go of your effort and allow people to help shape it in lots of ways, you need to think about what makes it "sticky." In other words, how are you going to keep people interested so that they will continue to volunteer, tell their friends (who tell their friends), and even contribute money?

One key way to making things stick is being very open with those participating about what's happening and why decisions are being made. Don't be afraid to invite lots of people to meetings, even if you think they may not be interested. Report back on what was said during meetings or conversations, share ideas, and ask people to help make them better. Most important, connect, connect, connect. Link to other Web sites, connect people to one another so they can work together on something or invite other groups to work with you on your project. Examples of efforts that are very "sticky" include Democracy, the free Internet TV platform that focuses exclusively on social change efforts, and Change.org, a site that connects likeminded people, whatever their interests, and enables them to exchange information, share ideas, and collectively act to address the issues they care about, without the fear of anyone stealing ideas or donors.

3. Don't Forget Face-to-Face

It's great fun to blog and send e-mail, but don't forget how important it is to meet with people in person. Social media don't replace the need for face-to-face relationship building, organizing, and protesting. If you want to change the way things work, if you want to make people aware of an issue or change a law, it can only happen when you meet with others.

Social change is the ultimate "people business" -- people have to build trusting relationships with one another, and that happens mainly face-to-face. Meetup.com is a fantastic example of a Web site that helps people meet face-to-face. Every month, people who may or may not know one another but who share a common passion sign up online and meet locally to discuss issues, share stories, and build relationships.

4. Mix & Match

One of the most exciting aspects of the Web 2.0 world is how many great tools there are out there to help interested people connect with you and your cause. And lots of them are free! Your effort to involve people could include blogs, meetups, online petitions, text messaging for instant organizing, and, of course, e-mail.

A great example of this kind of integration is the Free Schuylkill River Coalition in Philadelphia, which used a variety of social media tools to organize a neighborhood to advocate for safe crossings over the CSX Railroad tracks to the local park. After four years of protests, blogging, online petitions, and "Train-Cams" that took real-time video of trains blocking access to the park, the city of Philadelphia signed an agreement with CSX in the spring of 2007 for unlimited access to the park.

Social media tools are simple, inexpensive, and widely available for use by networks of activists. How they're used, in what combination, and with what kind of energy and spirit is limited only by our imaginations.

Allison H. Fine is the author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age. Read an interview and excerpts from her book. Allison is a successful social entrepreneur and writer dedicated to helping grassroots organizations and activists implement and sustain social change efforts. She is a senior fellow at Demos, a network of action and ideas based in New York City. She is the founder of Innovation Network, Inc. (InnoNet) and the former CEO of the E-Volve Foundation. Currently she serves on the board of directors of Just Vision. She lives on the banks of the Hudson River with her husband, Scott, and three sons, Jack, Zack, and Max. Join her interactive conversation on social change in the digital age at http://afine.us.

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