Social media and activism « Alex Schlotzer

Social media and activism

November 4, 2009 in Rants & Raves, Thoughts
Tags: politics, democracy, transparency, Australia, activism, voters, campaigning, voting, online activism, information, ballot box, website design, email, activists, political activism, online organizing, social media, advocacy, Series, articles, discussion, opinion pieces

Social media process. Courtesy: Damien Basile (flickr.com)

Social media and activism present a rich combination for positive progressive change, if utilized properly and effectively; with a plan and strategy underpinning its use. In many ways there are similarities to the techniques and strategies used for on-the-ground organising and campaigning.

Given my work is all about campaigning online, and people have been approaching me about strategies and techniques, I’ve decided to publish my thoughts on a range of topics about social media and online activism through a series of posts. There will be attention to specific social media sites and tools; which will also include discussion of techniques. There will be at least one discussion piece about online organising; looking at websites and the use of email lists, website tools and CRM. I’ll also be publishing my thoughts on content; including sources (finding & generating them) and management.

Plus I couldn’t go past including something about mobile technologies and applications.

However, there’s a catch.

The catch is each article in the series will be password protected. Therefore you’ll either be invited to read the articles or you will need to request a password to the article you’d like to read (a listing of available articles will be published publicly).

4 Replies

Chris Walker

November 5, 2009 at 9:32 am

Hi Alex, I’ve come across you on the Union Social Media ning and I contacted you about the OzPoliCon conference. Did that ever happen? Anyway, I came across your blog while preparing for a session I’m running at the Trans-Tasman Union Educators conference in Sydney 24-26 Nov. The workshops on the education neeed to support people ot use socail networking and web tools for union activity and social change. So, two things – I’m requesting a password to read the articles you wrote about, and I am lookimg for someone from Australia to co-present the workshop. I don’t suppose you’re going ot be in Sydney at that time are you?
Chris Walker – Education Organiser NZEI
- Alex Schlotzer
  
  November 5, 2009 at 10:50 pm
  
  Hi Chris,
  
  Thanks for dropping in a note.
  
  The conference didn’t happen as the day was crammed by literally a dozens of protests, events and activities; and competing conferences. However, work has begun on next year’s conference; and in some respects this series reflects parts of the conference.
  
  As for the passwords email me at alex.schlotzer[at]gmail.com and I’ll include you in the invitation lists. You can also email me at that address in regards to the other matters.
  
  Cheers
  Alex
Rich Bowden

November 5, 2009 at 8:36 am

Great idea Alex,

I think the concept of social activism via social media is an under utilised one (I still believe people underestimate the power of social networking). However I think that attitude is about to change and I look forward to your series.

An interesting site I came across recently is http://www.amazee.com/ which looks to collaborate for change and would be along an interesting subject as part of your series perhaps?

Cheers
- Alex Schlotzer
  
  November 5, 2009 at 11:12 pm
  
  Hi Rich,
  
  Thanks for the support.
  
  I believe you’re spot on to say that attitudes are changing. There are groups dedicated to improving the openness and transparency of our democracy using the growing wealth of internet technologies. There are several bootcamps and conferences about this, with a number of Members of Parliament getting behind it. There was much discussion about social media transforming media and politics at the Media140 conference (#media140 search on Twitter) yesterday (5 Nov).
  
  Thanks for the link to that site too. It’s very much along the lines of the areas I will be covering. While having kick ass tools, so to speak, are great, they become useless without a strategy; well strategies really.
  
  But these matters, details & more will be explored further in the series.
  
  Cheers
  Alex