There are more than 3.6 billion people that use social media every day around the globe. Social media allows you the option to be connected to anyone, from anywhere. It also gives you a platform to express your views and use your social work expertise to advocate for social justice or bring awareness to certain issues. While social media is not a replacement for real world activism, it is a great way to spread your message and reach people you otherwise might not connect with in person.
Social media has been an effective tool at helping movements gain national and global attention. #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge are all examples of movements and trends that amplified voices, raised awareness to issues, and helped encourage people getting involved in activism and lobbying for policy changes. These examples show the power that a voice on social media can have.
There are a few different types of posts that you can use to start engaging in advocacy on social media:
Educational Posts
These types of posts focus on educating others on different issues or topics. They include facts and data on the history of a particular topic or issue as well as current trends of the impact it has on certain populations. The goal is to help others learn that an issue exists or give a historical overview so that they can understand more and get involved to help based on these facts.
Opinions/Experience
These types of posts include individuals sharing their views/opinions or personal experience they have had. These types of posts are used to start a dialogue with others and to emotionally connect someone to your story. An effective opinionated post pairs a personal viewpoint with an expert opinion.
Inspirational
These types of posts include storytelling of experiences of those who are impacted by certain issues or other information that can emotionally appeal to the masses and inspire them to want to get involved.
Encourage Action
Some posts you can make can encourage others to get active offline. This can include sharing events or protests happening near by, encouraging others to give a donation to a cause, or information on how to contact a representative on a certain issue.
Recognition of Others Who are Active
Recognition posts puts a spotlight on individuals who are active in lobbying, activism, or otherwise doing the work to help make change in some way. These posts have a goal of motivate others to follow suit in engaging in this sort of action and celebrate the hard work of the people who are committed to making change in society.
Interactive Engagement Some social media platforms provide the ability to engage others with interactive features- like creating polls, “going live” and hosting a conversation. These types of posts can not just include all of the content the previous types of posts, but also gives others the opportunity to interact with the information with you. This can be used to crowdsource information, educate others, and help create a community.
Making any one of these types of posts can help you get started in social media advocacy. If you want more tips on how to make an effective social media post to help you get started, you can check those out HERE.
Sources
Benjamin, T. (2018). Social media activism: Limitation and benefits. INOSR Arts and Management, 4(1), 30-37.
Kidd, D. & McIntosh, K (2016). Social media and social movements. Sociology Compass, 10(9), 785-794.
Network Advocates. (n.d.). Social media advocacy. Retrieved from https://networkadvocates.org/advocacytoolbox/lobby/social/
Woods, K. (2022, May 21). Social media activism: This is how you start a movement. SproutSocial. Retrived from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-activism/