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[b e s ty - // u p d a t e s]
Twitter, Facebook and changing the world
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Something I’ve recently been thinking about is how the seemingly ever-expanding domain of social media, mobile apps and the ways in which people are using the web can have an impact on the world. With the rise of massive social networks (Facebook), microblogging (Twitter et al.), the older blogging platforms (WordPress, Blogspot, etc) and a vast array of smartphone apps (ranging from the extremely useful to the downright dumb), I’ve been thinking about ways in which the rise of this technology can have an impact upon the world, and if it is to have an impact, how it can be effective.

Lets get started with the web. Over the past few years, there has been a rise in the number of “activist” organisations primarily based online. Many of these take the form of political organisations – in Australia there is GetUp! while in the US there is MoveOn.org, with many other examples seen around the world. GetUp, describing themselves as “an independent, grass-roots community advocacy organisation giving everyday Australians opportunities to get involved and hold politicians accountable on important issues,” has (as of today) 327,323 members – more than any political party in Australia combined.

GetUp! campaigns on a huge range of issues, primarily from a progressive political viewpoint. Having so many members allows the organisations to mobilise vast numbers quickly and easily. Their primary unit of action is through email, whereby GetUp! sends members emails asking them to sign a petition in aid of a particular campaign or issue. On top of this base-level engagement (where GetUp! maintains its strength), the organisation also has on-the-ground campaigners around the country, helping in regards to particular issues, campaigns, or throughout election campaigns. MoveOn.org works in an extremely similar way.

Moving up to the international level, AVAAZ.org has an extremely similar structure to GetUp! and MoveOn.org. Avaaz describes themselves as “a new global web movement with a simple democratic mission: to close the gap between the world we have, and the world most people everywhere want.” They go on to describe their use of technology as follows:

Technology and the internet have allowed citizens to connect and mobilize like never before. The rise of a new model of internet-driven, people-powered politics is changing countries from Australia to the Philippines to the United States. Avaaz takes this model global, connecting people across borders to bring people powered politics to international decision-making. (http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php)

Since being set up, the organisation has 12,952,635 actions taken, has made headlines surrounding some of the most important political summits of the past few years, and has over 3.5 million members from every nation in the world. And it has been around for less than 3 years.

All this action, up until now, has been taken through the forms of opt-in email alerts and similar means of engagement. However, with the rise of other social media technology, the spread and impact of online campaigning, in my opinion, can be increased exponentially.

Twitter recently saw the “revolution” that was #iranelection. For days, and then weeks, #iranelection remained within the 10 trending topics that every twitter user see’s when he or she logs onto the main Twitter site. With the availability and the continuing spread of mobile internet access, along with a huge array of 3rd party twitter clients, tweets regarding the Iranian election and post-election unrest stayed within twitter trending topics for weeks, only being knocked off the post with the death of Michael Jackson.

In the short time that Twitter has been around, political leaders have seen the use and importance of Twitter, with US presidential candidates using Twitter to update followers on their respective campaigns movements, news and events. Barack Obama utilise Twitter along with other social media technologies extremely well, while leaders such as Kevin Rudd still utilise Twitter, well after their election win. Twitter has quickly risen to be a tool for politics and also a tool for civic engagement.

The same thing can be said about Facebook. Leaders and NGO’s the world over have utilised the technology behind Facebook to their benefit, running campaigns, events, rallies and protests (or even the odd flash mob) through technologies developed within very recent memory.

However, This is not the extent of social media, nor is it the extent of new web-based technologies that could potentially be utilised by NGO’s and individuals the world over in efforts to enact change. In just one example, Amnesty International partnered with Google to provide Google Earth with the capability to zoom into the Darfur region of Sudan and enable individuals to see first hand the destruction that has taken place in these areas, along with with information about death tolls, injuries, and human rights abuses that have occured in the area, compiled by Amnesty International. The operability within Google Earth then allowed US individuals to send letters and emails to US representatives and Senators demanding action on the issues surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

In Australia, web-based technologies worked alongside mobile technologies to power the Face Up To Poverty campaign in 2007, where over 50,000 “photo petitions” were collected in support of the MDGs and for an increase in Australia’s development financing commitments to 0.7% of GNI. In a partnership with Optus making this possible, Make Poverty History ran this campaign to great success. Once photos were taken, they were divided into electorates, and local MP’s received a mass of photo’s of people from within their electorates asking for support of the MDGs.

These campaigns have made me ask myself how social media and other new technologies can apply to the global movement to end extreme poverty. Groups like the ONE Campaign have been implementing certain aspects of web campaigning, in a similar fashion to GetUp! and MoveOn.org, and have also made great use of resources such as YouTube and other video sharing sites. Yet something I have noticed is a lack of a central destination in regards to the social movement. Each nation has its national coalition, such as the ONE Campaign or Make Poverty History, and each of these national coalitions “do” online engagement differently, an to differing levels of success.

So what does this mean?

Bringing together social media, new technologies, on-the-ground activism and emerging ways of engaging with the public in a central place a number of different things in regards to poverty reduction and the movement against poverty:

1) Accountability of developed countries development commitments, along with the progress of developing countries of their implementation of the MDGs etc

2) Provides an avenue for the individual to take action – quickly, easily and with massive effect

3) Provides an educational avenue for individuals – to learn more, get more involved, get linked up with an existing NGO, and in general more involved with the movement against poverty

4) Provides a platform for resources to be distributed globally, quickly and easily.

5) As yet unforseen benefits of social media nd emerging technology

Social media is only just beginning to prove itself – yet its power in citizen-led campaigns, political and social change has already been proven. It’s time to strengthen the global anti-poverty movement’s involvement and engagement with social media and emerging technologies.

After all, why not put the iPhone to use and change the world with it. After all, it does everything except make a coffee!

August 3, 2009 | 1:36 AM Comments  0 comments

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