This week I had the pleasure of attending the Feminism2.0 conference in Washington, D.C. It was a one-day event packed full of panels and breakout sessions with leaders from prominent women’s organizations such as Feminist Majority, NOW and NARAL as well as feminist bloggers, artists and activists.
What I liked most about the conference was the diversity of people that attended. It was a great mix of races, genders, ages and because the conference was focused on organizing women online and off, there were techy and non-techy people present.
A major theme that came out of the conference was bridging the gap between old and new activists and using technology to engage the younger audience. Jen Nedeau, my fellow Women’s Rights blogger at Change.org, moderated the panel, “At the Crossroads: Organizing the Next Generation of Feminists Online and Off”. She emphasized in her presentation that young activists need to be engaged where they live online with customizable options to participate.
Here’s a video that Nerdette from NotMyGal filmed of that panel (yup, that’s me listening in the background):
Jen mentioned to me after the panel that NARAL Pro-Choice America is a prime example of an organization that is getting Web 2.0 right with their FreeWillPower campaign.
It was great to hear because See3 created the FreeWillPower campaign specifically to appeal to a younger audience and give them ways to opt-in based on their own interests. For example, participants can watch videos, get ringtones for their phones, submit a design to a t-shirt contest, take a quiz about reproductive rights and find information on an interactive map, among other things.
I think Jen is correct in her observation that young people aren’t necessarily going to search out a nonprofit’s website themselves but will be receptive to participating with the tools and social networks they already use every day.
I think a challenge that the feminist and reproductive rights movements face today is how to provide ways for young people to make the cause their own. Luckily, the internet is a great place to connect with this new generation in fun and creative ways.
Last week we asked our friends on Twitter, “What do you have more of – Facebook friends, Twitter followers, or LinkedIn contacts?” Based on the responses we received, it looks like Facebook wins, followed closely by Twitter and LinkedIn.
It’s important to note that each social-networking platform has its own culture and use. Whereas you might connect with a business acquaintance on LinkedIn, you’re probably more likely to see photos of your friend’s new baby on Facebook or get in a heated discussion about a new website with another user on Twitter.
However, these cultures are not rigid. Facebook is rapidly transitioning from its college roots to a space for the professional world just as LinkedIn has added new applications like RSS feeds and SlideShare to make its user profiles more personal. And although many caution against joining too many social-networks at once, all three are worth looking into for both personal and business use.
Thanks to everyone who responded! Next week’s question: Do you have a secret for dealing with spam email? Just reply @See3 on Twitter.
See3 has been working for months with NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation to conceive, develop, and produce their latest youth-oriented initiative: free.will.power. This innovative video-based online initiative is designed to reach younger activists and recruit a new generation of young women and men into the pro-choice movement.
The result is www.MyFreeWillPower.com, centered around a series of three animated music videos, to be released over a 6-week period. Each video features a young, critically-acclaimed spoken-word artist – Shira Erlichman, Alvin Lau, and Deja Taylor – as well as renowned musician, DJ Spooky. We wrapped compelling words, visuals, and sound into a thought-provoking series, with each video riffing on a different word: “Free”, “Will”, and “Power”.
You can see the first video, “Free”, below:
On the website, there are interactive ways for new activists to get involved with NARAL Pro-Choice America’s work, including taking action on a choice-related issue, learning about state-by-state legislation, or entering (and later voting in) a $1,000 t-shirt design contest. (We even re-skinned their MySpace page to reflect the microsite creative!)
And the timing for this initiative couldn’t be better.
“In the 2008 presidential election, we witnessed how the power of technology and the enthusiasm of young voters revolutionized the political process,” says Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation. “This generation of youth is the most diverse and engaged generation in our country’s history. free.will.power represents one way to engage this new generation of activists and connect them with the pro-choice cause.”
We had this technology-centered, enthusiastic young audience in mind from the very beginning, always asking the question, “In this age of 24/7 information access, what will get their attention, connect with them, and really make them think?” You can see what some bloggers are already saying here, here, and here.
There was a great article in this past week’s New York Times Magazine about social networks that every nonprofit and cause-focused person should read. It matters how people use the sites because you can see how awareness of your cause can then travel these same pathways.
What this article explains is why we want to share what we are doing and be connected to several (or several hundred) friends who are also telling us what they are doing. Who has time for this, many people ask.
What does it mean to have constant contact with all of your friends. The article explains:
“Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.”
What the article says is that many people sign up for the services and then wonder why they are wasting their time. But then things change:
But as the days went by, something changed. Haley discovered that he was beginning to sense the rhythms of his friends’ lives in a way he never had before. When one friend got sick with a virulent fever, he could tell by her Twitter updates when she was getting worse and the instant she finally turned the corner. He could see when friends were heading into hellish days at work or when they’d scored a big success. Even the daily catalog of sandwiches became oddly mesmerizing, a sort of metronomic click that he grew accustomed to seeing pop up in the middle of each day.
This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating. The ambient information becomes like “a type of E.S.P.,” as Haley described it to me, an invisible dimension floating over everyday life.
“It’s like I can distantly read everyone’s mind,” Haley went on to say. “I love that. I feel like I’m getting to something raw about my friends. It’s like I’ve got this heads-up display for them.” It can also lead to more real-life contact, because when one member of Haley’s group decides to go out to a bar or see a band and Twitters about his plans, the others see it, and some decide to drop by — ad hoc, self-organizing socializing.
Even if your nonprofit is already involved in the world of social media, these 3 tips from David J. Neff of the American Cancer Society (which recently released the video platform sharinghope.tv) are helpful for expanding your online strategy:
1) Experiment – You should personally explore social networks before you make a profile for your nonprofit. That way you will understand the most effective way to publicize your organization and make meaningful connections on sites likes Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.
2) Buy a Video Camera – You should be making lots of video and some can be done in-house, easily and cheaply. While these videos will never replace professionally produced material, they can supplement your online content and be an effective way to engage people on social networks. You can buy a point-and-shoot camera like the Flip video for under $200. For a higher quality consumer camera, we recommend the Canon HV30.
3) Research – Don’t just look at what fellow organizations are doing, pay attention to what big corporations and creative agencies are turning out. You may not have the same budget but social media helps to level the playing field. For example, Michael highlighted Office Max’s One Penny Campaign in a previous post. Take a look and you’ll notice how little money or production quality you need when the idea is compelling.
If you are not donor prospecting online you need to start. This is an emerging area of internet fundraising. Sending email to people who are not already on your list is spam, so you have to be more creative with online prospecting.
This is becoming more urgent for you because DIRECT MAIL PROSPECTING WILL DIE! Yes, it will die. For a long time you will send mail to your donors and for a long time you will have donors who write checks and send them back in the mail. But prospecting — getting new supporters via mail by purchasing mailing lists of likely donors — this will die.
One reason is that eventually we will have a Do Not Mail list like we have a Do Not Call list. And everyone will put their name on it. While junk mail isn’t quite as annoying as spam, the environmental concerns with massive amounts of wasted paper are leading people to pay attention. Forest Ethics launched DoNotMail.org as a way to promote this idea. They have a growing number of signers and coalition members and I think eventually this effort will succeed.
We are working on creative ways to solve this. We have launched a Member-Get-A-Member and a Donor-Get-A-Donor product that uses your existing list to identify new supporters. We are using social networking sites, YouTube and video-centric microsites to bring in new people. All of this is very very new, but if you rely on new donors via direct mail, you would be wise to be thinking and working on expanding your online programs now.
