Getting Slacktivists to Act
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The document discusses the integral role of social media in non-profit and social organizing, emphasizing the transition from traditional metrics to engagement and action. It outlines organizing principles crucial for effective online activism, such as personalizing relationships, facilitating peer-to-peer opportunities, and employing clear action choices. The importance of content creation, local leadership, and offline actions are also highlighted as key strategies for fostering participation and success in community organizing.
Getting Slacktivists to Act
- 1. Organizing Better with the Social Web My Charity Connects 2012 Boyd Neil National Practice Leader Social Media + Digital Communications
- 2. 2 2012 eNonprofit Benchmark Study http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/
- 3. 3 2012 eNonprofit Benchmark Study http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/
- 4. 4 2012 eNonprofit Benchmark Study http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/
- 5. . . . And what of it? 5 Social web now integral to non-profit and social organizing Twitter has taken over as a conversation and connection tool especially internationally But . . . a tendency to think in terms of traditional success measures (additions to email lists etc.) Moving from connection to engagement and action is the challenge . . . Organizing online is a core competency for non- profits and advocacy groups
- 6. How we do it: 1. Understand social dynamics 2. Draw from historic and current organizing principles 6
- 7. 7 Dr. Giorgos Cheliotis (gcheliotis@nus.edu.sg) Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore
- 8. Online organizing doesn’t change how people make decisions to participate – or not 1. Personal approach best for recruitment 2. Knowing that “someone like me” is on social platform (trust) 3. Personal invitations/direct support help people get started 4. Understand needs, then help meet those needs, encourages participation and ongoing involvement Neighbourhood Forums: (from an evaluation of E- Democracy.org Inclusive Social Media project)
- 9. Social participation continuum Connection Engagement Influence Action 9
- 10. What social web activism can do Create Educate Organize Courage to Act Act 10
- 11. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 1. Contain anger | find ideological balance 2. Make action choices straightforward, obvious and easy 3. Connect everywhere 4. Use social tools to organize groups (We used to call them „cells‟) 5. Give people offline connection and action opportunities 6. Identify local network leaders . . . And empower to self-organize 7. Personalize the relationship 8. Facilitate peer-to-peer opportunities 9. Provide incentives for offline action 10. Create content that rocks 11. Celebrate successes 12. Manage organizing like a political campaign
- 12. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 1. Contain anger | find ideological balance
- 13. Two reasons this doesn’t work: 1. Moves away from core organizing message 2. Substitutes anger for argument 13
- 14. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 2. Make action choices straightforward, obvious and easy
- 15. Four reasons this works 1. Offers calls to action + petitions 2. Educates on what it means to engage 3. Urges you to imagine something different 4. Makes it easy 15
- 16. And this works too . . . For the same reasons
- 17. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 3. Connect everywhere
- 18. Three reasons this works: 1. Displays and repeats evidence of multiple platforms 2. Uses visual platforms 3. Has multiple points of access for connection
- 19. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 4. Use social tools to organize groups (We used to call them „cells‟)
- 20. 20
- 21. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 5. Give people offline connection and action opportunities
- 22. ‘App’ It 22
- 23. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 6. Identify local network leaders . . . And empower to self-organize
- 24. Three reasons this doesn’t work: 1. No place to identify yourself as willing to lead an action 2. No infrastructure for self- organization of groups 3. Doesn’t educate within the context of organizing But this does . . . 24
- 25. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 7. Personalize the relationship
- 27. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 8. Facilitate peer-to-peer opportunities
- 28. Three reasons this works: 1. Begins from your own story 2. Makes starting your own peer- peer campaign straightforward 3. Defines progress
- 29. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 9. Provide incentives for offline action
- 30. Site offers: 1. Game-style ranking 2. Personal invitations to events 3. Special training/education opportunities 30
- 31. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 10. Create content that rocks
- 32. 32 We can learn a lot about creating great content from internet memes . . . They operate in affinity spaces and are characterized by Dr. Giorgos Cheliotis (gcheliotis@nus.edu.sg) Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore
- 33. TACTICAL TOOLKITS AND GUIDES Drawing by Numbers 10 Tactics Message in-a-box Mobiles in-a-box Security in-a-box Info-design guide Maps for advocacy Online advocacy guide ONO films Digital Survival Guide 33
- 35. Good Data Visualization 35 Have a storytelling Context is critical disposition in data – Give us the „so what‟ assembly Create the story from Less data, more story the data . . .don‟t jam (but collect it all) the data into a story Focus on opportunity Highlight actionable not data pimping data
- 36. 36
- 37. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 11. Celebrate successes
- 38. 38
- 39. Organizing Principles Organizing principles 12. Manage organizing like a political campaign
- 40. THE H+K ADVOCACY PANEL Features + Dynamic CRM + Mass Mailer + Event Management + Fundraising + Advocacy & Petitions + Share / Tell-a-friend + Legislative Outreach + Social Networking + Canvassing + File Uploader + API
- 41. Boyd Neil | @boydneil | 416.413.4626 | www.boydneil.com 41
Editor's Notes
- #2: Democracy requires that we do something about things we are angry . . . Which gets to the part about my special experience to talk about this whole concept of acting on your principles . . . In my youth, I wasLeft-wing activist, member of a group called Red Morning which modeled itself on WeathermenOrganized a demonstration . . . And ended up spending a month in the Don JailI then went on to be a truck driver and trade unionist with CFAW and the United Brotherhood of Railroad, Airline and Steamship Clerks . . . I was chief steward of a local, a delegate to the Canadian Labour Congress national convention, member of the union’s negotiating team, and an agitatorNone of which his meant to be self-aggrandizing, only to make the point that I have been an activist, anorganizer and have been on the streets . . . All under an older paradigm of activism
- #3: The newer paradigm is circumscribed by a new set of social tools . . .starting with facebookBetween 2010 and 2011, the median growth rate for nonprofit fan pages was an astounding 70%. Imagine your email list growing at that rate! Nonprofits had 103 Facebook fan page users (that is, people who “like” a nonprofit fan page) for every 1,000 email subscribers. The wildlife and animal welfare sector continues to have the largest Facebook presence, with a median of 72,784 total Facebook users. The rights sector is also notable for having the largest ratio of Facebook users to email users, with 144 Facebook users for every 1,000 email subscribers.
- #4: The “action rate” is calculated as the number of daily “likes” and comments on a page’s content divided by the number of Facebook users. Overall, nonprofits averaged 2.5 actions per 1,000 Facebook users. The wildlife and animal welfare sector was a leader in the field with an average action rate of 3 actions per 1,000 Facebook users . . . Which is fairly low
- #5: Nonprofits in this study had an average of 12,451 Twitter followers. The international sector was by far the most beloved by the Twittersphere, with an average of 59,365 Twitter followers. On average, a nonprofit has 29 Twitter followers for every 1,000 email subscribers.
- #7: I don’t think we should panic that these ratios seem somewhat low or that people are only clicking a like button or signing a petition. As my friend Rob Cottingham said in the Globe and Mail in March:“For a lot of people, sharing something will be their first case of activism,” they’re filled with the kind of enthusiasm you're seeing from people who are becoming engaged politically for the first time.’From my perspective, It is the job of the organizer to take sharing and turn it into changing.
- #8: What are the obstacles to this . . . If the goal is collective action, or individual action around a collective goal . . . The social science research suggest that the obstacles are often about communications
- #9: The social science research also demonstrates that that online organizing doesn’t change how people make decisions to participate or not . . .
- #10: There is a simple way to structure your thinking about what you are trying to do with people in your online strategies, whether to build your database or organize a social movement.Organizers and campaigners should understand the principles behind effectively turning connection into the will to act turning membership into engagementIn fact, membership in a social asset like a Google+ or Facebook page has to be seen not as a dead end, but as a starting pointConnection, in other words, is only the starting point of a participation continuum and it is the job of the activist or organizer to find ways to move people along that continuum .
- #11: And there are things you can do at each stage . . . With connection . . .you can educateWith engagement . . . You can work on helping people to organize themselvesWith influence . . . You can work on creating the courage to actWith action . . . You can provide the means for making the anger or the concern known, although preferably with driving towards solutionsCreating this strategic infrastructure for changing behaviour is the job of the organizer . . . And I have put together what I think are 12 useful principles for doing this
- #12: In the 1960s ad 1970s we followed the organizing principles of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals | Che Guevara’s Guerilla Warfare | Regis Debray’sRévolutiondans la révolution and Nousesommes les Tupamaros
- #14: Forget the whole idea of ‘messaging’
- #18: Old activism . . . As a left wing activist, I would attend social events, rock concerts, student meetings, free food centres, and sell or distribute newslettersNew activism . . .integrate all social tools and be available and engaged in the major social tools (a Facebook page just isn’t enough, although it can be a hub)Mobile Commons lets you run your mobile (text-based) outreach from one easy web-based platform.
- #20: Old activism . . .this was the really tough stuff . . .we only had a couple of alternatives to organize activists (meetings – clandestine or public – phone trees and parties)New activism . . . Social collaboration and organization
- #21: Suite of group collaboration tools, such as private wikis, task lists, file repository, and decision making tools.(Crabgrass.org)
- #23: This app made it very easy for anyone to make an offline decision in line with a political belief
- #24: Old activism . . . We created cells with leaders and coordinated both locally and internationally (especially U.S.), working with such organizations as Rising Up Angry in ChicagoNew activism . . . Identification of network leaders globally is incredibly easy, because people self-identify as social issue or cause leadersGetUpindependent, grass-roots community advocacy organisation giving everyday Australians opportunities to get involved and hold politicians accountable on important issues. Moveonfamily of organizations brings Americans back into the political process. JumoLeveraging connection technologies, Jumo enables people to find, follow and support those working toward solutions on the ground in their community and in regions across the globe. Jumois founded and directed by Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook and director of online organizing for Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
- #25: Feb 29 shut down corporations . . . Anarchic is structure . . .Attempted continuation of the ‘occupy’ movement . . . Facebook page has only 2000 likes . . . No way to engage | no encouragement to other forms of action | no discipline re: recruiting organizers
- #27: Old activism . . . We would work with individuals to determine their willingness to engage, where they are comfortable. Band members from Sound Horn (some wanted to be active on the streets, others just wanted to play music so we worked with them to write lyrics with a message)New activism . . . Find ways for individuals to act on their own or with friends
- #28: “Close to two-thirds (64 per cent) say they value being able to easily share content with others. For young Canadians, the figure rises to 83%.”So . . . Create content that is by its nature shareablehttp://www.mediaresearch.ca/en/projects/socialmedia.htm)
- #30: Old activism . . . Simple and clear messages + offer action alternatives consistent with people’s level of comfort ((distribute leaflets- openly or surreptitiously . . .organize a demonstration . . . Spray painting slogans)New activism . . .repost a video/start a petition/re-tweet an event invitation
- #32: Create content that rocks . . . And is shareable“Close to two-thirds (64 per cent) say they value being able to easily share content with others. For young Canadians, the figure rises to 83%.”So . . . Create content that is by its nature shareablehttp://www.mediaresearch.ca/en/projects/socialmedia.htm)
- #33: There are some generic ideas about what makes for successful and shareable social content
- #34: Established in 2003, Tactical Tech is an international NGO working to enable the effective use of information for progressive social change. Itswork is informed by the principles of freedom of expression and freedom of information and the need for transparency and accountability.
- #35: EffectiveInfographics . . . Need rich data to demonstrate authority + Simplicity
- #37: Since you can’t always come up with content that rocks yourself, become adept at content curation . . . Strategies for doing this(NOTE . . . SEEK COLUMN IS MOST IMPORTANT
- #38: Document the impact of success . . .
- #39: Learn from game dynamics . . . There are about 50 core elements of game dynamics . . . Five that I think relate to celebrating successes in social actionAchievementExample: a badge, a level, a reward, points, really anything defined as a reward can be a reward.Blissful ProductivityThe idea that playing in a game makes you happier working hard, than you would be relaxing. Demonstrate that rewardLeader-boards and micro leader-boards (people in a distinct set)LoyaltyDefinition: The concept of feeling a positive sustained connection to an entity leading to a feeling of partial ownership. Often reinforced with a visual representation. (mayorships)Social Fabric of GamesDefinition: the idea that people like one another better after they’ve played games with them, have a higher level of trust and a great willingness to work together. . . . Have a party