Instead of editorializing The Era of Civic Groundswell panel, these are some of the nuggets of knowledge the panelists shared with attendees.
Moderator @geofflivingston began the conversation with, Malcolm Gladwell wrote “Why the revolution will not be tweeted,” do you agree with him?
@digiphile the revolution will not only be tweeted, it will be FB‘ed, YouTubed, Google+ed and so forth
@createthegood “the dude was wrong,” ppl wouldn’t have known about it [the Civil Rights Movement] w/o tv, the social media of the day
@cajunjen I may not join the revolution, but my tweet may inspire someone else to do it
@clintonobrien the prob w/ Gladwell’s central thesis, “he’s devaluing small changes” made possible w/ social media
@clintonobrien “all of those small things add up”…collectively into something really powerful
The moderator then asked about slacktivism – you liked a page, you changed your avatar…what else?
@cajunjen “levels of engagement is a ripple effect;” you gotta start somewhere
@cajunjen that’s how [via social platforms] you’re being exposed to new ppl, new issues, new causes
@createthegood changing the avatar doesn’t make me act, being influenced by my peers causes me to do something
@digiphile we’re getting our news from a variety of sources
@digiphile by sharing, my level of awareness goes up & my engagement w/ the issue/cause may rise as well
Audience question: social media has a “dark underbelly,” reinforcing the use of bad behavior by mean ppl?
@digiphile social platforms are free speech platforms
@geofflivingston social media shows ppl, good & bad, now we’re just exposed…we’re seeing a mirror of ourselves…“this is us”
Audience question: with everyone having a voice, how do I get heard?
@cajunjen use the ppl [your cause and organization has] to the fullest effect
@cajunjen some brands are being really creative, experimenting
@createthegood take risks…just ask for help, for advice
@clintonobrien don’t overlook secondary platforms [reddit, digg, stumbleupon]…some of the mainstream platforms have gotten really crowded
@clintonobrien find the right media outlet where you’re gonna be really special
@digiphile with thousands of blog posts about listening, at the end of 2011, ppl still aren’t doing it
@geofflivingston social media is a relational media
@clintonobrien the value of peer 2 peer evangelist has gone up
@digiphile offline and online has melted together, in-person events have an online component and vice versa
@createthegood you can’t have expectations, you don’t know what will or won’t work
Audience question: moving from a like to volunteer to donor?
@cajunjen commitment curve > like, sign up for text alerts, sign petition, donate, etc.…segmentation is crucial
@cajunjen send ppl the appropriate action, some will move quicker than others, some won’t move
@digiphile it’s important to show, not just tell, and be able to prove where donations are going
@clintonobrien a lot of ppl who become part of your social media tribe start out as part of your email list
@clintonobrien make sure you aren’t putting cart before horse, your email list is still one of most valuable commodities
@geofflivingston the classic mistake is to go top-down, you want authentic ppl to become your digital ambassadors
