Using Social Media for Community Action

Many of us use a variety of social media outlets for self-promotion or to promote assorted businesses, clients, and products to the online world at large. Some of us also use social media for advocacy.

First and foremost in my mind is 12for12k, which did an amazing job raising money for charity throughout 2009. On a more personal note, I am very impressed with the work Kristine Brite-McCormick has done with Cora’s Story to raise awareness about Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) after her five-day-old daughter died from the birth defect that she learned about from the coroner.

And then there are all of the other causes I care about, the countless newsletters I receive urging me to take action about this workers’ rights violation or that new educational legislation they’re trying to get passed. The email can be overwhelming, and I admit to deleting a fair amount of them more often than I’d like to. But once the action groups caught on that they could reach their members on Facebook and Twitter, that was a big help. Now I can tweet or post to Facebook when I take  part in an action campaign, encouraging like-minded people to do the same – and my friends and acquaintances can do the same. They’re meeting me where I am.

And that’s why I’m going to be speaking at the 2010 Empowering Communities for Successful Aging Conference at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road in Albany, New York on July 28. I’ve generally been more of an advocate for children’s issues since becoming a mother, but I can’t ignore the importance of taking care of our seniors. Along with Paul M. Bray of P.M Bray LLC, I will be presenting on Community Building and Advocacy: Using Media to Gain Community Support.

As I understand it, Paul will be speaking about using traditional media outlets (print, TV, radio) while I’ll be discussing how to use new media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and more. I am trying to remind myself that this will be nothing like speaking on the Social Media Breakfast Tech Valley 4 blogging panel, where most of the room was tweeting and texting throughout the presentation.

If you are interested in attending the event, the cost is $40 for the one day I’m speaking or $70 for both days, July 27 and 28.

I would be very happy to include more examples of organizations who are using social media for community empowerment, so please feel free to share your story with me if you’ve found success in this arena by leaving a comment. I can always use more case studies!