Social Media and the Civil Society

Sitewriters

The Civil Society Activism, Democracy and Campaigning Spontaneous Campaigns Organised Exploitation of the Media www.louder.org.uk

Social Media and the Civil Society

Objectives

No well formed outcomes Discuss application of Social Media in a number

of different contexts Ideas generation

Social Media and the Civil Society

Civil Society

Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values.

Social Media and the Civil Society Civil societies often populated by organisations such as registered charities,

development non-governmental organisations,

community groups,

women's organisations,

faith-based organisations,

professional associations,

trades unions,

self-help groups,

social movements,

business associations,

coalitions and

advocacy group.

Social Media and the Civil Society

Civil Society changing in response to Social Media

On 12 February 2009 202 cities around the world held Twestivals, bringing together the Twitter community for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

The projected amount raised by Twestival currently stands at $250,000 USD.

Social Media and the Civil Society

Shell want to install a gigantic refinery in a remote part of Mayo in North-West Ireland.

Local people object, so the govt has brought in a huge force of police to intimidate them and try to stifle protest. However, people are worried enough by Shell's record in other countries where they operate to continue the fight to make them transfer their refinery offshore.

Youtube videos created high profile AND high ranking search results for a number of search terms containing the word Shell

Social Media and the Civil Society

http://globalvoicesonline.org describe how Lebanese activists experiment with Social Media

During the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel, young people like social and environmental activist Zena El-Khalil used blogs to tell her side of the story http://beirutupdate.blogspot.com/

@beirutspring, recently used twitter to campaign for better broadband connection in Lebanon

Social Media and the Civil Society

Social Media and the Civil Society

Social Media and the Civil Society

Social Media and the Civil Society

Social Media and the Civil Society

Social Media and the Civil Society

Social Media and the Civil Society

Social Media and the Civil Society

Possible Discussion and Ideas Generation Goals

Relating tools to campaign types (fit tools to task) Measuring effectiveness Targeting different demographics What makes a Social Media campaign effective?

Social Media and the Civil Society