Mobilizing Generation 2.0 Mobilizing Generation 2.0 is a practical and immediately useful guide for nonprofits, political campaigns, organizers, and individuals who want to better understand how to use Web 2.0 technologies. In easy-to-understand terms, this accessible book describes how readers can leverage new media (blogs, socialnetworking websites, photo- and video-sharing websites, mobile phones, wikis, online maps, and virtual worlds) to recruit, engage and mobilize young people.
Bringing together valuable guidance; big picture advice from recognized experts (Beth Kanter, Evan Wiiliams, danah boyd, Fred Stutzman, Steve Grove, Jonah Sachs, Seth Godin, Zack Exley, Martin Kearns, Jason Fried, Mitch Kapor, Katrin Verclas) as well as real-life stories of success; the book provides the information you need on the most widely used technologies like Blogger, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and Second Life. Chapter by chapter, the author walks you through How Organizations Are Using It, How It Works, How to Get Started, Strategic Considerations, and Challenges and Opportunities.
The book, and its up-to-date website (www.mobilizingyouth.org), are filled with handy resources, tips, best practices, and more.
Praise for Mobilizing Generation 2.0
"Young voters, in increasing numbers, are tuning in and taking charge. This book is a great look at how to reach them more effectively."
―Congressman George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor?Committee
"Ben Rigby has pulled together the ultimate guide to using social media for political organizing."
―Micah Sifry, cofounder, Personal Democracy Forum and TechPresident
"Ben Rigby helps the people working hard to create change make sense of the vast array of technologies available."
―Marnie Webb, coCEO, TechSoup/NetSquared.org
"Mobilizing Generation 2.0 is an outstanding field manual for all nonprofits."
―Holly Ross, executive director, NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network
Mobilizing Generation 2.0
A Practical Guide to Using Web2.0 Technologies to Recruit, Organize and Engage YouthBy Ben RigbyJohn Wiley & Sons
Copyright © 2008 Ben Rigby
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-470-22744-2
Chapter One
BloggingWhen Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either. -Senator Trent Lott, December 5, 2002
This statement from a Mississippi senator at the one hundredth birthday of former South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond may sound like benign birthday flattery-if it weren't for the fact that Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign promoted racial segregation. A young ABC News reporter assigned to cover the event concluded that Lott's comment might imply that he also supported segregation. The reporter thought he had a major news story. But ABC's senior staff disagreed, deciding to run the story briefly on television at four-thirty in the morning and to publish a short piece about it on its Web site. By the next day, the story was effectively dead in the mainstream press.
But it did not go unnoticed in the "blogosphere," that massive decentralized group of people who publish online personal journals. Several politically oriented bloggers read the story and began to investigate. They found that Lott had voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act; opposed the Martin Luther King holiday; affiliated himself with the Council of Conservative Citizens, classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League; and wrote articles for publications espousing white separatism.
Bloggers filled in details that were missing from the original report, and the story spread rapidly across the Internet. Within a week, thousands of bloggers had republished it, and many called for Lott's resignation. Sensing a grassroots groundswell, the mainstream press ran the story again, only this time reporters added the historical details that bloggers had uncovered. The press turned the issue into a full-blown scandal. Lott quickly lost the support of the White House and his Senate colleagues; he resigned as Senate Republican leader on December 20, 2002.
Bloggers had arrived: their intense focus on an obscure story forced it to national attention. Mainstream media were no longer the sole conduit through which current events became News.
For many people, particularly youth, blogging is more than a source of political news; it is a mechanism for self-expression, identity formation, and entertainment. According to a recent Pew Internet and American Life survey, about twelve million Americans keep a blog, and fifty-seven million Americans read them. Over half are under the age of thirty, and most view blogging as a creative way to share their experiences with others. The impact of blogging in the political and social spheres has been so sudden and wide reaching that social scientists, marketers, politicians, and many others are struggling to understand how it affects their domain.
Although blogging's role in modern life is complex, its premise is simple. Blogging software makes Web publishing easy. Once the province of highly technical webmasters, Web publishing is now about as difficult as sending an e-mail. Within ten minutes, anyone with access to a computer can create a blog, publish an article, and call themselves a blogger. One key innovation of these publishing systems is that they allow the reader to talk back. After every article, a "comments" area invites written response. Popular blog articles have become long conversations between readers and the original author.
Over the past several years, blogging has evolved into a distinct literary and media form. Although there is no official body that determines what qualifies as blogging, bloggers generally value personal and authentic language, are willing to listen to and allow criticism in comments, write frequently, and participate in the community of bloggers by writing comments on related blogs. The first blogs took the form of personal diaries. Today, however, businesses, politicians, and nonprofit organizations use blogs for a variety of purposes. Growth has been explosive: fewer than fifty blogs existed in 1999, but now over seventy million populate the Internet.
This chapter explores the ways organizations have used blogs to achieve mission-related objectives and build relationships with bloggers. Bloggers can profoundly affect public perception of a candidate, issue, or organization. It's vital to establish credibility and connection with the blogging community in order to have a voice in this increasingly important forum.
How Organizations Are Using Blogs
Starting an organizational blog is one of the fastest routes for telling the story of your candidate or cause, demonstrating expertise in your field, and engaging supporters in conversation. They are easy to set up and inexpensive to maintain. For many organizations, blogging may be the ideal gateway to participation in the Web 2.0 movement.
As a point of introduction to blogosphere vernacular, posts is the term used to refer to blog writings. The word is used interchangeably as a noun and verb-for example, "Don't bother me, I'm working on a blog post" or "I'll be ready to eat dinner after I post to my blog." I'll employ these linguistic conventions throughout this chapter.
Providing Limited Participation in a Story
Mitt Romney's "Five Brothers" blog lies at the heart of his presidential campaign's Internet strategy. In shades of the Brady Bunch, Romney's five sons write about their dad, the issues they face, and life on the campaign trail. Tagg, the eldest at age thirty-seven, loves the Red Sox and has three kids. Craig, the youngest at twenty-six years old, would like to meet Conan O'Brien someday. On the day I visited the blog, Josh, thirty-one, had just posted a photo of himself and his two children visiting a state fair in Iowa. A funnel cake stand was illuminated in the distance. You could almost hear the American flag flapping gently in the wind and the sounds of the carnival rides. Without sounding scripted or "spun," the blog reinforced Romney's key campaign message: family values.
From a communications standpoint, the Romney campaign has scored a big hit. The blog medium helped the campaign deliver a message that sounds (and probably is) authentic. At the same time, it's also a message that has been carefully crafted to contrast Romney against his twice-divorced competitor, Rudolph Giuliani, who no longer speaks with his adult children.
The mainstream media have picked up on this angle in dozens of articles and television spots. They echo the family values sentiment in such statements as this from the Times Online: "The brothers are so handsome and wholesome that they bring to mind the Osmonds," and this from the Washington Post: "Wholesome does not really begin to describe the five adult children of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who for the past few weeks have been sharing such details on Five Brothers." If nothing else, the blog serves as a continuous feed of the family values message to the press. But it's also a hit with supporters. According to rankings from Alexa.com, the blog is the most popular part of Romney's Web site outside the home page.
From a technical perspective, the Romneys are using blog software to publish content to the Web. It provides the brothers with a simple tool for posting new material every day. The campaign hired a designer to make the blog look good, and the software does the rest.
However, the blog provides the campaign with more than a Web publishing system: it offers a framework for telling a story. Blogs add a date and time stamp to each article and insert the most recent article at the top of the page. This reverse chronological structure creates a serial-like quality which suggests that a new installment is coming soon. The Romneys don't need to invent new ways to keep supporters interested; the blog automatically provides a known storytelling device.
Before reading a word, experienced blog readers expect the Romneys' blog to offer an honest, personal, and straightforward account. Organizations that rehash promotional writings better suited for marketing brochures find that blog readers are extremely critical. Readers will berate these as "fake blogs" or "flogs." Generally, the Romneys' blog does meet readers' expectations, although it runs some risk of being perceived as a flog, for unlike most blogs, it limits interactions between authors and readers. Comments are accepted, but controversial ones are left unanswered. The Romneys have responded to a question about campaigning on Sundays as Mormons, but ignored a question asking about the brothers' willingness to volunteer for the Iraq War. However, they don't delete these questions. The campaign successfully walks the line between marketing and authenticity by leaving challenging comments on the site.
The blog gives the campaign an approachable and personable face while telling a great ongoing story. It keeps supporters engaged while avoiding "off-message" conversations. It may be possible to increase youth engagement by making this interaction richer, but the Romneys manage to make effective use of their blog while staying within the limits of their comfort zone and campaign strategy.
Offering Deep Participation and Social Connection
Amnesty International aims to engage and connect human rights activists around the world. It has 2.2 million members in more than 150 countries. Traditionally, the organization used newsletters and e-mail alerts to communicate with members. Although these media worked, Amnesty felt uncomfortable being the "sole authoritative voice" and wanted to create a more balanced relationship between staff and activists. In contrast to Romney, the organization thrives on community-driven conversation and debate. Starting a blog was a natural fit.
The Amnesty blog features five topic areas and engages readers in a lively discussion via comments. Blog posts convey timely news, upcoming Amnesty events, and ways to take action. Although Amnesty continues to offer authoritative analysis, it also invites supporters to create dialogue around that analysis. Amnesty starts the story, and supporters then make it their own.
Amnesty's blog gives activists a source of inspiration and a space to connect with one another. By playing host, Amnesty is able to take the pulse of activist thought and action. It monitors and participates in these discussions in order to inform future action. Compared with a newsletter or e-mail alert, the blog offers a much richer forum for dialogue, community building, and learning.
One of Amnesty's key objectives is to encourage offline action, which the blog achieves. On the day I visited, a recent post in the "Student Activism" area called for students to spend some of their summer vacation sending postcards. Another article reported the successes of the previous summer's postcard-writing campaign, which resulted in the release of five prisoners of conscience from Belarus and Israel. Amnesty's blog both asks for participation and shows results from past involvement, a method of engagement often called "closing the feedback loop." The loop begins when a supporter takes action and closes when the organization shows the results of that action.
Organizations often fail to close the loop due to limited time or financial resources. However, it's one of the most effective methods for retaining and engaging supporters. Young supporters want to know that their efforts have not gone to waste, and the blog offers an inexpensive and quick way to close the loop.
Whereas the Romney campaign considers conversation around difficult issues a potential risk, Amnesty thrives on this type of discussion. Dan McQuillan, Amnesty's interim Internet director, says that the organization is still in the process of exploring social media, but that thus far, use of such technology as blogging has led to richer conversation around human rights issues, generated action, and resulted in access to new audiences.
tip
Ways to Use Blogs
Blogs can be used to
Announce
* Events
* New products, services, and initiatives
React immediately to public criticism or praise
Convey organizational messaging and identity
Involve constituents by asking questions and listening to responses
Close the feedback loop
* Give results of fundraising efforts
* Tell volunteers what they've achieved
* Report back from conferences and events
Reporting Alternative News
At age seventeen, Gwen Araujo was brutally murdered after several men discovered that she was biologically male. As the trial of the accused murderers began, the Community United Against Violence (CUAV), a nonprofit dedicated to preventing violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, started a blog to document the proceedings. CUAV's bloggers were intimately familiar with the issues and provided an alternative analysis of the trial while the mainstream media delivered sensational sound bites. The blog provided a forum for the community to vent their anger, share frustrations, and watch the trial unfold from the perspective of like-minded individuals.
The mainstream media don't always report a story in depth, due to a number of restraints. Some stories don't appeal to a wide enough audience, certain advertisers will find some content objectionable, and television time and print space are limited resources. As a blogger, you are free of these limitations. You can use a blog to tell the story from the perspective of your constituency and to provide depth where the mainstream media have glossed over the issues.
You can also use a blog to keep the story in the news. The mainstream media coverage of the Gwen Araujo case died after the first trial, but CUAV provided ongoing blog reporting and analysis of the second trial. Eventually, the blog drew the attention of the mainstream media and kept the story in the public eye. For grieving members of Araujo's community, the blog offered some reconciliation. It created a space for reacting to, supplementing, and influencing the mainstream news. At the same time, it served as a forum for discussion and support.
Harnessing Super-Supporters
Teens are often much more enthusiastic authors and readers of blogs than their adult counterparts, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Pew classifies 8 percent of the population as Internet "omnivores," that is, users who consume the Internet with fervor. These users see the Internet as a "platform for participation and self-expression," and they tend to be young. More than half of heavy Internet users are under the age of thirty (versus one in five in the general population), and 42 percent are students with access to high-speed and wireless networks at school.
Some organizations are blessed with a contingent of these active young supporters, but may find it difficult to harness their collective energy. One solution is to create a community blogging platform, an umbrella site where super-supporters can operate their own blogs. This approach can strengthen community, centralize activity, and maintain the vital interest of young supporters.
The Obama 2008 campaign launched one of the first community blogging platforms in the political sphere. In a few minutes, supporters can create their own blog and start posting about Obama, or whatever else they see fit. On the day I visited the community blog, one young supporter posted images of himself and a few friends canvassing in the Iowa rain. Another reported highlights from Obama's speech at the Yearly Kos convention. The headline from another read, "Senator Obama wake up! You are losing and it's time for change!"
As you can see, the community blog offers a space for both support and criticism, and the campaign benefits from both. These blogs have allowed supporters to create their own grassroots marketing propaganda, while also increasing the campaign's ability to quickly understand the zeitgeist of its support. Blogs are an early-warning sign: if candidates are indeed losing the race, they'll hear about it first on the blog.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Mobilizing Generation 2.0by Ben Rigby Copyright © 2008 by Ben Rigby. Excerpted by permission.
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