This is part three in a 4-part series where I share strategies that you can become more familiar with when it comes to activism: lobbying, writing campaigns and action alerts, using social media, and rallies/demonstrations. If you’ve read any of my other blog posts (and I thank you if you have been), you know that I’m all about sexual/reproductive wellness and rights, but I believe that these tips can be used for a variety of causes. Feel free to focus on the tips throughout the coming weeks that inspire you the most and what makes the most sense for your cause. 

Last week, we discussed tips for writing letters to the editor and to policy makers, and participating in political action alerts. These strategies involved different tactics, but together they each bring about one key result: taking quick action. This week, we’ll be discussing an even quicker way to get your message across: using social media. Social media has risen in prominence within the last decade, and many users are utilizing this medium for a variety of purposes. Today’s lesson is on showing how social media has changed the face of activism, how you can utilize it for your cause.

So what is “social media”?

If you ask 5 people what their definition of social media is, you’ll probably get 5 different answers. I think of social media as a platform of a variety of networks in which people and organizations share information, content, and other interests. There’s a lot of social networking sites , but most people are familiar with these: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (These are the ones that I use the most.)

I’m going to make the assumption that you are either using the mentioned sites or are at least familiar with them, so I won’t go into the differences among these networks. (If you’re not familiar, click on the links and find out what they’re all about!) I use each for different purpose: I have a private Facebook account for friends and family, a Facebook business page, a Twitter account for networking and connecting with followers/friends, and a LinkedIn profile for connecting with former classmates and colleagues for consulting opportunities.

The ones I used the most to get the word out about different causes are Facebook and Twitter. And it looks as though many people around the world are doing the same. From Occupy Wall Street, to the execution of Troy Davis, to the Arab Spring, people are sending out updates and messages at a thousand tweets and Facebook status updates a minutes (and that’s just my personal estimate). Let’s go over the pros and cons concerns of using social media as a form of activism:

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