Using Social Networks for Social Change (Facebook, MySpace and More)

A Mission to Empower

The idea of "empowerment" is key to the organization's mission, and undergirds our approach to social networks and social media. Genocide Intervention Networkwants members who can think for themselves, and consequently social networking is a key method by which the organization helps train supporters to speak for themselves, for us, and for an anti-genocide movement.

Many groups use social networks for mobilizing — getting members out to an evnt, getting people to sign a petition, getting people to donate for a cause. GI-Net focuses on organizing — creating an educated constituency of people who can motivate others.

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Social Media and Social Networks

Social media (e.g. YouTube and Flickr) often integrate particularly well with social networks (e.g. Facebook and MySpace), as a way to help engage members and heighten interest. Why not simply upload your own images and host your own videos? The "social" in social media ensures that, if you post your media with useful titles, descriptions and keywords, other people may well discover you who wouldn't otherwise have encountered you — and you'll draw them further into your social web.

Using Videos on MySpace

When we first put our profile up on MySpace, we were getting one or two friend requests a day, and that's not too bad for just starting off. As soon as we put up a short video about the organization — posted via YouTube, in the hopes of drawing in people from that site as well — our friend requests went up to 10–15 per day. Supporters could embed the videos in their own profiles themselves. That's the advantage of social media in social networks: People are drawn to photos and video, and the nature of social networking allows them to easily share them with friends.

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Final Thoughts

• Engaging supporters on social networks is long-term. Don't expect immediate results.
• It takes effort. You need to be willing to communicate, in both directions, with your supporters.
• If you want your members to spread your message, you have to trust them.