{"id":43,"date":"2024-04-15T08:29:42","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T08:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/?p=43"},"modified":"2024-04-15T08:29:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T08:29:42","slug":"5-lessons-from-twitter-politics-for-nonprofits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/5-lessons-from-twitter-politics-for-nonprofits\/","title":{"rendered":"5 LESSONS FROM TWITTER POLITICS FOR NONPROFITS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve been active on Twitter since 2008, yet Twitter had begun to lose its shine for me by the end of 2015. There was so much broadcasting, and so little conversation. In fact, it was getting downright boring.<\/em> Then the political season erupted, and so did our new President\u2019s use of Twitter. Since the election, and particularly the inauguration, Twitter\u2019s come back from the dead to become one of the most exciting places to watch political expression unfold \u2014 and there\u2019s a lot nonprofits can and should learn from recent history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a five things I\u2019ve noticed from following Twitter politics that your organization could use in 2017.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Attacking or silencing climate scientists and messengers won\u2019t make climate risks disappear.#ClimateFacts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann)\u00a0January 26, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When you need to share your side of the story, go directly to the people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump did. While I personally did not support this candidate, I couldn\u2019t help but notice the tactics. In this politicized climate, it is a given that organizations doing work on behalf of maligned populations, rallying people politically, or defending rights under attack will themselves feel the brunt of hatred. Have your Twitter profile polished off, ready, and active to speak directly with your stakeholders.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whoa. Look at those persona accounts go!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the\u00a0Trump administration issued gag orders\u00a0to several federal agencies prohibiting the use of social media,\u00a0some folks created alternative government Twitter accounts. It\u2019s been revealed that some of these alt accounts are decidedly NOT government employees, but some may yet still be. To be honest, this doesn\u2019t even seem to be as important as their ability to create dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the government clamps down on allowing scientifically proven facts to be disseminated through social media, sharing this injustice on social media \u2013 where people converse about these issues \u2013 is an important mission. The 80+ \u201calternative\u201d Twitter accounts are now followed by more over 1 million people, and they are sharing information about climate change, science, parks and yes, a bit of politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I might add that persona accounts aren\u2019t new. I\u2019ve been a fan for 7+ years of\u00a0Lily the Black Bear,\u00a0The North American Bear Center\u2019s Facebook page. What\u2019s the right persona for your cause?\u00a0Is now the time to think about creating one \u2014 for when you need to have a fresh voice to share what needs to be heard?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hashtags are the new (old) watercooler.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arab Spring gathered support around the many resistance uprising hashtags. #NoDAPL rallied supporters against the Dakota Pipeline. #blacklivesmatter emerged as a hashtag that now continues to focus conversations around this incredibly important topic. With the new administration\u2019s executive orders, we must find the hashtags to meet and activate, or else create our own. As examples of generalized political hashtags, see #alternativefacts and #resist, or find very focused hashtags like #ACA #immigrantswelcome #muslimban and #refugeeban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which hashtags speak to your cause?<\/strong> Who\u2019s speaking the loudest? Find out who cares most, and begin conversation. Get around the virtual water cooler and stay relevant and informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People over logos.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s one thing we can clearly see from the past 10 days, it is the different voices of @realDonaldTrump, @POTUS and @WhiteHouse. Which one gets more retweets, media coverage, and followers? The one that tweets with the most personality wins. Every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t say it enough: people want to connect with people, not with logos.<\/strong> If you are an executive director or CEO, it\u2019s time to get real. Blend who you are with the fact that you also have a very important job \u2014 and show your personality!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are the trusted news source.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of the campaign season, the public has questioned the veracity of the candidates\u2019 statements, and they questioned each other endlessly. Then the impact of fake news played out, as Americans began to understand just how much of the news headlines we read online might be false or misleading. A\u00a0December survey by the Pew Research Center\u00a0revealed that at least 64% of Americans have been confused by fake news. This sense is shared widely across incomes, education levels, partisan affiliations and most other demographic characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the political news cycle every other hour, rather than every 24 hours, it is critical that you have a vetted list of trusted news sources on issues and causes. (Especially with the fact-playing of\u00a0alternative facts<\/em>.) Where do you turn to for trusted news? Even veteran journalist Dan Rather created a digital news company to do just that (news shared through Twitter and Facebook), playing on his trusted name brand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been active on Twitter since 2008, yet Twitter had begun to lose its shine for me by the end of 2015. There was so much broadcasting, and so little conversation. In fact, it was getting downright boring. Then the political season erupted, and so did our new President\u2019s use of Twitter. Since the election, and particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityorganizer20.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}