Civic 2.0 Module 1 Civic Engagement and Accessing Government Websites Instructor Guide

Civic 2.0 Training Course Module 3 Social Networking for Community OrganizingInstructor Manual

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2 Civic 2.0 Module 3 Instructor Guide

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Module 3. Social Networking for Community Organizing 3© Copyright 2011, Blue Ocean Logic

Table of Contents

Module Objectives.............................................................................................................7

Why Use Social Networking for Community Organizing?....................................................8

How to Create a Social Media Presence ...........................................................................11

Step 1: Understand Your Organizations Social Media Goals...............................................11

Exercise 1: A Case Study – Part I.........................................................................................12

Step 2: Select Your Social Media Tools...............................................................................12

Organization Website......................................................................................................12Blogs and Microblogs......................................................................................................13

Step 3: Create Valuable Content.........................................................................................15

Step 4: Connect to Social Media Websites..........................................................................15

Example 1: Effective Website Design for Social Media Campaigns....................................17

Exercise 2: Setting Up Social Media Tools..........................................................................18

Exercise 2-1: Researching Website Creation..................................................................19Exercise 2-2: Creating a Twitter Account........................................................................20Exercise 2-3: Creating a LinkedIn Account......................................................................21Exercise 2-4: Creating a Blog..........................................................................................22

Using Facebook for Community Organizing......................................................................25

Finding Friends and Acquaintances for Your Organization.................................................27

What is a Friend Suggestion?...............................................................................................27

What’s the Process? How Do You Begin Using Facebook?...............................................28

Creating a Facebook Account..............................................................................................29

Creating a Facebook Group.................................................................................................30

Assigning Administrator Rights for a Facebook Group........................................................31

Creating a Facebook Page....................................................................................................31

.............................................................................................................................................33

Linking Your Facebook Page to Twitter...............................................................................34

Linking a RSS Feed................................................................................................................36

Useful Facebook Applications for Community Organizing..................................................37

Example 2: Organizing Social Media Campaigns................................................................38

Example 2-1: Organizing a Group: Affordable Housing Leadership Group...................38Example 2-2: Organizing a Cause: Food Co-Op.............................................................39


Example 2-3: Organizing a Campaign: Local Aldermanic Elections..............................40Example 2-4: Organizing a Fundraising Event: Afterschool Programs..........................41

Summary.........................................................................................................................42

Knowledge Check.............................................................................................................43

Lesson 1: A Case Study – Part II..........................................................................................43

Lesson 2 – Multiple Choice and True/False.........................................................................44


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Social Networking for Community Organizing

Module Objectives

In Module 3, you will be introduced to Social Networking for Community Organizing, specifically how to use social media tools to engage and attract people in support of your organization or a particular cause, whether it relates to fundraising or marketing a product or service.

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

• Explain why it’s important to use social media to connect to a larger audience

• Explain how to setup and organize social media for community organizing

• Be able to visualize how social networking can be used to engage people for fundraising or promoting causes


Why Use Social Networking for Community Organizing?

What does “Social Networking for Community Organizing” mean? Social Networking is very popular in today’s digital world. It represents the varied ways that people connect on-line (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, to name a few).

The term Community Organizing has been around for decades. Although community organizing is loosely defined, it tends to bring to mind a person or persons actively working to bring a group of folks together to discuss, protest, and/or support a common cause. Putting the terms social networking and community organizing together simply means

expanding traditional community organizing efforts to include the digital arena and use of the Internet.

Most Social Networking sites offer features that allow members to connect within unique groups referred to as communities.

Many social network sites organize communities and offer features that are beneficial to local, national, and international organizations and businesses. These communities utilize a variety of tools such as blogs, wiki pages, photo/video sharing, and much more, all dedicated to a group or groups specific approach to sharing information.

Let’s consider the 2008 social media campaign efforts of Barack Obama!

As presented in Wikipedia, Barack Obama was noted for his effective use of the Internet to rally supporters and make his policies known during his 2008 campaign for President. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_presidential_campaign,_2008)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_presidential_campaign,_2008

"The integration of technology into the process of field organizing … is the success of the Obama campaign," says Sanford Dickert, who worked as John Kerry’s chief technology officer for the 2004 campaign. "But the use of technology was not the end-all and be-all in this cycle. Technology has been a partner, an enabler for the Obama campaign, bringing the efficiencies of the internet into the real-world problems of organizing people in a distributed, trusted fashion."

Obama’s use of the Internet targeted 18 to 29 years old voters, the age group most reliant on social media for political information about the election.

Through blogs, forums and social websites such as MySpace and Facebook, Obama built relationships with his supporters, and would-be supporters. He developed an upfront, personable and face-to-face quality that gave his supporters a sense of security

and trust, which inspired them to rally others in their local communities. The supporters of Obama themselves formed a nation-wide online community to support his campaign.

Central to Obama’s social media activity was his campaign website

The Obama campaign website provided useful and effective tools, such as the Neighbor-to-Neighbor online tool on (My.BarackObama.com),

allowing community organizers to quickly reach large numbers of voters within a short period of time. Online communication connected Obama supporters efficiently, engaging them in social activities such as sign making and door-to-door petitioning, as well as simply discussing their opinions about policies and issues they supported along with Obama. The Obama web campaign used a consumer marketing approach to organize individuals in groups and target them according to their unique interests.

Political communications were tailored to specific audiences based on the profile data collected about them. This data was collected via email campaigns, surveys on the Obama website and other online resources. Website surveys were designed to take very little time to


"The integration of technology into the

process of field organizing … is the

success of the Obama campaign."

complete. Voters requested and received more detailed surveys through email. From the information gathered via these surveys, voters received Obama campaign messages tailored to their specific beliefs.

Marketing based on survey data also enabled effective grassroots organizing through the website.

Data gathered from the website identified Obama’s most dedicated constituents by tracking how often a person visited and when. The campaign team then targeted and encouraged activists in contested, winnable areas, using website programs like Neighbor-to-Neighbor.

All of his policies were made available online, and updates were sent to the subscribers of his political party via email and text message, ultimately increasing his popularity among youth voters. An unprecedented communication strategy was the "online call tool”. During the course of the campaign, more than one million calls were made from residential, personal laptops and desktops to voters in local communities throughout the country.

Without a doubt, this social media campaign helped to elect Obama President. To see an example of how Social Networking for Community Organizing can be effectively used, visit Organizing for America at http://www.barackobama.com.


http://www.barackobama.com/

How to Create a Social Media Presence

We have a cause or project that we’d like to get a large group of people involved in. How do we create a Social Media Presence?

There are four basic steps to creating a Social Media Presence:

1. Step 1: Understand Your Organization’s Social Media Goals

2. Step 2: Select Your Social Media Tools

3. Step 3: Create Valuable Content

4. Step 4: Connect to Social Media Websites

Step 1: Understand Your Organizations Social Media GoalsDefining the goals of your organization and identifying the audience you’re attempting to engage are a critical first step to creating a Social Media Presence, as they lay the foundation for the other three steps.

Community Organizing: Online social networks offer another vehicle to promote service/civic engagements as well as support political or social issues. These can be accomplished by creating groups, blogging about a topic, issuing surveys, taking polls and more. Social networks can help to promote volunteerism, collaboration, activism, and problem-solving among members.

Community Organization Marketing: Social networks for marketing allow community organizations to engage potential supporters, develop meaningful relationships with others in their local and global communities, position themselves as resources to their constituents and raise funds for their organization and causes


Exercise 1: A Case Study – Part I

Throughout this module, you will build a foundation for using social networking in your community organizing efforts.

Take a moment and think about a project that will bring together a group of individuals for a specific purpose. Describe that project here, along with your goal or goals for connecting this group of individuals. List your audience. Share your ideas with the class.

Project or Cause:

Goal or Goals:

Audience:

Step 2: Select Your Social Media Tools

Considering all of the tools available to reach a larger audience, what is the best way to setup and organize your social media efforts?

Communication tools consist of websites, blogs, online meetings, webinars, video conferencing, webcams, photo/video sharing, and podcasting. These tools are used to support community organizations in their communication efforts. The most popular and effective communication tools for organizing include:

Organization WebsiteThe foundation of any community organization social media campaign is the website. The organizations’ website contains all of


the basic information about the organization including its mission, structure and leadership.

This is also where visitors sign up for email updates, read blogs, link to text alerts, podcasts and related social media resources like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Websites can also collect detailed analytical information on their visitors. The center of the universe for effective social media campaigns is the website.

Blogs and MicroblogsBlogs and microblogs (Twitter) are particularly effective as they provide a way for people with common interests, views, or perspectives on a particular subject to collaborate and share information. Blogs allow community organizations to:

o collaborate and interact with their members and constituents

o build global relationships and communities

o create discussion groups

o share issues and positions with everyone


The following screen capture is an example of the typical layout of a blog:

PodcastsPodcasting is another effective communication vehicle. A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are downloaded by their audience.

Podcasting allows individuals to select what programming they want to receive and when they want to listen to or view it. In addition, listeners can retain audio archives to listen to at their leisure.

YouTube is probably the most popular form of podcasting.


Title

Archives

Text, images, and video

Recent Posts

Statistics

Step 3: Create Valuable Content

Given all of the information available to online audiences, what is the best way to attract and sustain interest in our community organizing efforts?

To attract and maintain interest in community organizing efforts, you must create content to entice your audience. Writing for social media is conversational in nature. Only a skilled copy writer can create headlines and content provocative enough to build and retain the visitors’ interest in your activities and issues.

Professional copy writers will also understand how to create articles with high ‘keyword density’ to improve search engine optimization without sounding like a sales and marketing piece.

Consider contracting a professional or training your in-house writer in these techniques to attract and sustain interest in your organization’s social media presence.

Step 4: Connect to Social Media Websites

How do we reach a global audience quickly and organize unique groups of individuals interested in supporting our goals?

The answer to this question is easy…community organizations should leverage the success and reach of popular social media websites to quickly expand the audience for their activities and issues. These sites also have the functionality to organize individuals into unique groups or communities for effective communication, collaboration and camaraderie.

Tweets, tags, blogs, and posts are the growing phenomena of social media. There are hundreds of social networks in existence today. However, let’s examine a few popular sites.


Name Description

Users can chat, blog, and exchange, send, and receive text and images. A profile is created and automatic notifications are sent whenever it is updated.

You can create and join groups that have your common interests such as work, school, social organization, events, friendship, etc.

Use to send and receive instant text messages (up to 140 characters) known as tweets. As a subscriber, you can “follow” the whereabouts of another Twitter user. Your tweets appear in reverse chronological order.

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site primarily used for professional networking and making business contacts.

Classmates is used to locate former school mates by entering the name of your school and the dates you attended.

MySpace was known as the first social network used to connect with friends.

Reunion.com (now MyLife) allows you to reconnect with your high school alumni classmates, relatives, co-workers, and friends using an online search function.

Note: In this module, you will focus on using Facebook as one of your primary social media tools, as detailed starting on page 24.


Checking these communication vehicles is part of the day-to-day activities for some organizations.

Example 1: Effective Website Design for Social Media Campaigns

Organizing for America’s website is a showcase for illustrating how it creates a social media presence for connecting community organizations across America.


Link to Blog and other

information

Sign up for Email Updates

Video of Citizens

in Action

Sign up for Text Alerts

Online Tool

Chest

Online Donation

Member Sign up &

Online Survey

“Organizing for America’s Website - Example”

Exercise 2: Setting Up Social Media Tools


Links to other social

websites

Barak Obama

on Facebook

In this exercise, you will start to set-up several social media tools that can be used to support your cause or project:

Exercise 2-1: Researching Website CreationExercise 2-2: Creating a Twitter AccountExercise 2-3: Creating a LinkedIn Account Exercise 2-4: Creating a Blog

Exercise 2-1: Researching Website CreationThere are a plethora of web builder sites that offer website creation, either from scratch or by using pre-built templates. Some of these web builders are free while others charge fees.

How to know which approach will work for you and your organization? Should you use a free web builder or one that charges a fee?

In this exercise, you will start to research website creation and decide which approach and potential web builder will fit your needs.

The website http://www.4creatingawebsite.com/ provides invaluable information on the three mains steps needed to create a website:

1. Get a Domain Name – walks you through everything you need to know about domain names - what they are, why you need one, how to choose a good one and how to get one.

2. Choose a Web Host - explains what a web host is, how to choose a good one, and what you really need and what you don't so you don't get taken.

3. Creating a Web Site - explains how you actually build a website, what you should and should not put on it and helps you figure out which website builder is for you.

As you navigate through this site, start to think about the following:

My Organization’s Domain Name:Note: Use the recommended search tool to make sure your name is available.

Potential Web Host:

Potential Website Builder:


http://www.4creatingawebsite.com/build_web_site.htm

http://www.4creatingawebsite.com/choose_web_host.htm

http://www.4creatingawebsite.com/domain_name_information.htm

http://www.4creatingawebsite.com/

Exercise 2-2: Creating a Twitter AccountThe following steps detail how to create a Twitter Account:

1. Log onto the Twitter site using the following URL: www.twitter.com.

2. On the Twitter site, click the Sign Up button.

3. On the Twitter Sign Up page, complete all applicable fields.

4. Click Create my account.

5. You will then be prompted to select topics of interest to you, select friends who may also be on Twitter, complete your account profile and sign up for Mobile notifications.

6. Visit the following website to learn how to use Twitter to promote your cause or organization: http://business.twitter.com/


http://business.twitter.com/

http://www.twitter.com/

Exercise 2-3: Creating a LinkedIn AccountThe following steps detail how to create a LinkedIn account:

1. Log onto the LinkedIn site using the following URL: http://www.linkedin.com/.

2. On the LinkedIn site, complete the Join LinkedIn Today information.

3. Click Join Now.

4. Complete your professional profile and click Create my profile.

5. Follow the prompts to setup your account and complete your profile.


http://www.linkedin.com/

Exercise 2-4: Creating a BlogThere are a number of free resources to create a blog. They include blogger.com and wordpress.com to name just a few.

The following steps detail how to create a blog:

1. Log onto the Blogger site using the following URL: www.blogger.com.

2. On the Blogger site, click Get Started.

3. On the Google Account page, complete the applicable fields.


Step 1 is used to set up a Google Account.

http://www.blogger.com/

4. Click Continue.

5. In the Name Blog window, enter your Blog title which will become part of the URL.

Note: You cannot include spaces or punctuation. For example,

6. Click the Check Availability link to make sure this title does not currently exist.


Step 2 is used to name your blog and choose a

template.

7. In the Template window, select the template you want to use.

8. Click Continue.

Your blog has been created and you are now ready to begin writing the details about your topic.

Note: Use www.blogsearch.goggle.com to search for blogs


Step 3 is used to write, edit, add images, video, and links to your blog.

http://www.blogsearch.goggle.com/

Using Facebook for Community Organizing

One of the most popular social media tools today is Facebook. With Facebook, several features are designed to broadcast material to a wide audience. These can be effective tools for online campaigns or promoting civic engagement. Facebook groups are designed to be shared spaces where information is controlled and shared entirely by its members through communication vehicles like group chat, e-mail lists, document sharing, and group photo-tagging. For example, group chat rooms allow members to communicate via the instant messaging (IM) feature to everyone else in the group in real time.

After you sign-up with Facebook, you will create an organization profile allowing millions of Facebook members all around the world to view the details of your organization. Now you can send an invitation to friends, relatives, acquaintances, and co-workers to join your Facebook network. This invitation is sent to the person’s email address. If the person accepts your invitation, they become part of your network of friends.

In this illustration, one person has connected with five different people. With Facebook,

this one person (in the middle) also has the potential to connect with the friends of these five people.

In Facebook, whenever you visit your organization’s home page, you can change and update the current status and share whatever you are doing with your friends. The organization home page displays the latest news (called a newsfeed) about your friends whenever they post messages on their home pages. Likewise, if you post a message on your wall, you can choose to share it with all of your organization’s


friends. Then, each time they log onto Facebook, they can read any comments you made about your activities and issues or read any private messages sent by you.


You can also share website links, videos, and photos posted with your friends. Facebook offers privacy controls that let you set preferences to filter what information can be viewed. With this feature, you can share as much or as little information with all your organizations friends, a select group of individuals, or people who are not in your list of friends.

Finding Friends and Acquaintances for Your OrganizationFacebook is programmed to search your organization’s email list when you first sign-up. If you agree to this option, Facebook scans its database searching for people who are part of your contacts email list. If they find that your email address is included with one of its current users, you receive a friend suggestion. This allows you to send the person an invitation to become your friend. This is how Facebook works behind the scenes to help you build your network. The system starts with people you know. Then, you can view the pages of mutual friends and connect with friends of your current friends.

What is a Friend Suggestion?A friend suggestion is a feature that helps you connect with people you are likely to know. If someone is currently using Facebook and they are also part of your email list, Facebook makes a suggestion for you to become their friend. Facebook calculates suggestions based on the networks you are a part of, mutual friends and contacts.

Since this feature is automatic, it occasionally identifies people that you do not know or do not want to be friends with. Please keep in mind that Facebook will never send friend requests to the users that show up in this list. Suggestions may appear:

• on your home page

• in the new user orientation

• in the Friends section

• in advertisement space around the site

Important Note! Facebook only makes a suggestion for you to add them as a friend; you can choose not to include the person.


Facebook looks for your email contacts and makes a “friend” suggestion.

What’s the Process? How Do You Begin Using Facebook?

The illustration below provides an overview of the process to get your organization started. See the following page for detailed steps to create a group on Facebook.

First you sign-up and create a password to access your account. Passwords are confidential and must be protected and not randomly given to an unknown source.

Second, you create a profile that provides your organization’s contact information, special interests, activities and affiliations, awards, etc. This profile should contain basic information so people can get a snapshot of your organization.

Third, you can upload a profile picture, image or organization logo and later build photo albums with a variety of images and videos.

Now you embed your links to the community organization website, your blogs microblogs and related newsfeeds so that important content generated through these sources also appears on your organization’s Facebook page.

Next, you are ready to use Facebook for social networking. You can find, search, add friends and create groups.

Then, set up privacy controls to identify what information you want people to view.

Finally, you can begin to use Facebook for community organizing by sending messages to friends, posting notes on your wall, and respond to your friends’ posts.


Creating a Facebook AccountThe following steps detail how to create an account on Facebook:

1. Log onto the Facebook site using the following URL: http://www.facebook.com.

2. On the Facebook page, enter applicable information

3. Click the Sign Up button.

4. After you complete the sign up form, Facebook will send an email to the address you provided. Clicking on the confirmation link will complete the sign up process.

Note: In addition to pulling contacts from your email account and making friend suggestions, Facebook also provides two other ways to find friends:

• You can browse and join networks. Once you join a network, you can browse through the list of members and search for people you know.

• You can use Facebook's search engine to look for a specific person. Type the person's name into the search field, and Facebook will display any profiles that match the name.


http://www.facebook.com/

Creating a Facebook Group

A Facebook group allows you to communicate directly with other people on Facebook about a specific subject. The following steps detail how to create a group on Facebook for your organization:

1. Log into your Facebook account.

2. In the left hand column of your homepage, click Create Group.

3. In the Create Group pop-up box, enter group name, invite members and select privacy settings for your group.

4. Click Create. Your group has now been created.

5. From your Group’s main page, you can edit group information (i.e., add a group description, etc.) and edit group settings (i.e., receive an email alert when members post something) by clicking the following buttons:


6. From the Group’s main page, you also have other options, as as detailed in the following screen capture:

Assigning Administrator Rights for a Facebook GroupAfter creating a group, you will automatically be listed as both an admin and the group's creator. Anyone with administrator rights can add additional admins to a group by using the Make Admin button next to each member's name in the member list.

Creating a Facebook Page

In addition to Facebook Groups, which allow you to communicate directly with other people on Facebook about a specific subject, there are two types of Facebook pages:

1. Community pages are built around topics, causes or experiences. These pages link from fields you fill out in your profile. You "like" these pages to connect with them, but they aren't run by a single author, and they don't generate News Feed stories.

Many community pages display Wikipedia articles about the topics they represent, as well as related posts from other people on Facebook in real time.


2. Official pages are maintained by authorized representatives of a business, brand, celebrity, or organization, and they can create and share content about the entities that they represent.

Other media sources such as Twitter and LinkedIn can be linked to both types of Facebook Pages only. At this time, links are not possible to Facebook Groups.

The following steps detail how to create either a Community Page or an Official Page:

1. Log onto Facebook using the following URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/

2. At the top right of the page, click Create a Page.

3. In the Create a Page window, complete the section for the desired page, and click the appropriate create button.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/

4. Once created, you can customize and setup your page. Note the link to Twitter Account at the top of the page.


Linking Your Facebook Page to Twitter

The following steps detail how to link your organization to Twitter, once it is created on Facebook.

1. On your organization’s Facebook page, at the top, look for the Twitter link that enables this feature.

2. Click Link a Page to Twitter

3. The following screen allows you to select which page you would like to sync with a Twitter account. Note that Facebook only allows you to link to one Twitter account.

4. Select the desired Facebook Page and click Link to Twitter. Once linked to Twitter, you can edit settings, which will allow you to decide which updates are posted on to Twitter.


Linking your Facebook Page to LinkedIn

The following steps detail how to link your organization’s Facebook Page to LinkedIn. Reference the following Facebook link for more information: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?v=wall&ref=appd&id=6394109615

1. Step 1 - Make sure you have Admin privileges for your Facebook Page.

2. Step 2 - Navigate to this URL:http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?v=wall&ref=appd&id=6394109615

3. Step 3 – At the top left, click Add to My Page, select the page you want to add it to, and click Add to Page button.

4. Step 4 - Go to your organization’s Facebook Page, and, at the top left, click Edit Page.

5. Step 5 - On the left sidebar, click Apps. In the list of applications, under the "My LinkedIn Profile", click Edit Settings and under the appropriate tab, click Add and then Okay.

6. Step 6 – Return to the “My LinkedIn Profile", and click Go To App

7. Step 7 - You are now on the application config for your organization’s Facebook Page, enter the appropriate LinkedIn Public Profile Url or Company Profile Url and click Save. Note: If you have only one LinkedIn Public Profile, it will prompt you to allow access to that profile.


http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?v=wall&ref=appd&id=6394109615




8. Step 8 – Return to your organization’s Facebook Page. You should see the LinkedIn tab at the top of the page, as illustrated in the screen capture below.

Linking a RSS FeedRSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is especially popular for distributing news updates and for announcing new content added to the social Web. Various media types can also be updated via RSS feed, including podcasts. The presence of an RSS feed is often signaled by an orange icon of some type, as illustrated in the screen capture below:

How do you create a RSS Feed?

Creating RSS feeds is an automatic feature of many sites on the social Web. For example, if you maintain a blog, the blog software will create the feed.

To learn more about RSS Feeds, reference the site: http://www.internettutorials.net/rss-basics.asp


http://www.internettutorials.net/rss-basics.asp

Useful Facebook Applications for Community Organizing

Flash Play - allows you to add any flash file to your profile, visible to everyone.

MyOffice - Having a tough time getting your team on the same page? MyOffice lets you quickly and easily collaborate with your colleagues, partners, or clients on one or multiple projects.

Use MyOffice to:

• View recent activities for one or multiple projects in a dashboard

• Schedule and agree to meetings

• Organize events

• Discuss ideas and collect feedback

• Share files from a central location

• Create to-do lists and track individual roles and responsibilities

• Set privacy to invite-only, network-only, or public

• Create, edit, and collaborate on documents

Phonebook - Click on “Friends" at the top of any Facebook page. Once your Friends page has loaded, you can click on "Phonebook." You now have access to your friends' telephone numbers. SlideShare – SlideShare is the world's largest community for sharing presentations. Upload your presentations, documents, PDFs, add mp3 audio to create webinars and embed YouTube videos into them on SlideShare. Then you can import your SlideShare.net presentations into your organization’s Facebook page.

For more information on Facebook applications, reference the following website url: http://www.facebook.com/apps/.


http://www.facebook.com/apps/

Example 2: Organizing Social Media CampaignsThe following examples illustrate how to xxx

Example 2-1: Organizing a Group: Affordable Housing Leadership Group

Situation:

You live in an affordable housing unit in a neighborhood that is quickly gentrifying. Because there is no tenant’s association, you want to organize the tenants who live in the building to create one.

Step 1: Identify your Goals(s) and Audience

Short-term Goals(s):

• Spread the word to all tenants

• Elect Board Members

• Write By-laws

• Establish a Meeting Schedule

• Create plans for social marketing campaign and newsletter

Long-term Goal(s):

• Implement social marketing campaign and newsletter

Audience: All tenants


Tools and Reason for using:


Potential Topics of Interest:


Primary Tool(s):

Supporting Tool(s):


Example 2-2: Organizing a Cause: Food Co-Op

Situation :

The community in which you live currently has one grocery store. Over the last year, its products and services have declined significantly. Often, the fruits and vegetables and meats are less than fresh. Popular items are often out-of-stock. Yet, their prices continue to rise! You want to organize the community to open a Food Co-op.


Goals(s):

Audience:






Primary Tool(s):

Supporting Tool(s):


Example 2-3: Organizing a Campaign: Local Aldermanic Elections

Situation:

You have decided to campaign for the local Alderman’s seat that will be becoming available in your area.


Goals(s):

Audience:






Primary Tool(s):

Supporting Tool(s):


Example 2-4: Organizing a Fundraising Event: Afterschool Programs

Situation:

The local community center in your area is considering cancelling some of its most popular afterschool programs due to budget constraints. You want to collaborate with them and raise money to keep these programs.


Goals(s):

Audience:






Primary Tool(s):

Supporting Tool(s):


Summary

Explain why it’s important to use social media to connect to a larger audience.

Explain how to setup and organize social media for community organizing

Be able to visualize how social networking can be integrated to engage people for fundraising or promoting causes


At this point, you should have a general understanding of Social Networking for Community Organizing, specifically how to use social media tools to engage and attract people in support of your business or a particular cause, whether it relates to fundraising or marketing a product or service.

Place a checkmark next to each objective for which you feel confident.

Knowledge Check

Let’s see what you have learned! There are two assessments in this module. They include:

1. A Case Study – Part II

2. Multiple Choice and True/False

Lesson 1: A Case Study – Part IIIn Exercise 1, you identified a project/cause and its related goals and audience. This Lesson 1 will be a continuation of that Case Study. Use the template below to strategically organize your project/cause.

Project/Cause:


Note: Completed in Exercise 1

Goals(s):

Audience:






Primary Tool(s):

Supporting Tool(s):


Lesson 2 – Multiple Choice and True/False

Instructions: In this lesson, circle the correct answer.

1. True/False: “Social Networking for Community Organizing” simply means moving community organizing efforts from the streets into the digital area of using the Internet.

2. When considering the 2008 social media campaign efforts of Barack Obama, his use of the Internet targeted which set of voters because this age group was most reliant on social media for political information about the election?

a) 30 – 39 year old voters

b) 40+ year old voters

c) 18 to 29 year old voters

d) All of the above

3. How to create a social media presence will depend upon which of the following?

a) The goals for your organization

b) The social media tools you choose to use

c) The audience you’re attempting to engage

d) (a) and (c)

4. True/False: YouTube is probably the most popular form of podcasting, which is a series of digital media files that can be downloaded.

5. True/False: The foundation of any community organization social media campaign is engaging your audience

(False: The foundation . . . is the website.)


6. Blogs allow community organizations to do which of the following?

a) Collaborate and interact with their members

b) Create discussion groups

c) Share issues and positions with everyone

d) All of the above

7. True/False: The friend suggestion feature on Facebook only makes suggestions for you to add someone as a friend; you can choose not to include the person

8. Which one of the following Social Media tools allows you to send and receive instant text messages?

a) Facebook

b) Twitter

c) LinkedIn

d) All of the above

9. True/False: The best way to attract and sustain interest in your community organizing efforts is to select effective social media tools. (False: The best way . . . is to create valuable content.)

10. Which of the following is a Facebook application?

a) MyOffice

b) Twitter

c) My Space

d) LinkedIn
