Social Media in Advocacy Communications

Social Media in Advocacy Communications

A PLN in social media is meant for all those who want to keep learning and exchanging knowledge, it is a great self-development tool. A diverse PLN will expose you to the current issues that are trending across communities, which can help you identify certain calls for change. Since most of our childhood education has been curated to highlight the achievements of certain communities, it is important that we use tools such as a PLN to educate ourselves on diversity and inclusion. In my experience as a student mentor at UVic, my PLN has exposed me to various issues that communities are facing. One such example is the struggles and injustices that happen to this day to the indigenous communities across Canada. With your PLN being diverse, it is easy to identify issues that impact certain communities.

 

How does social media engage in advocacy communications?

Social media has played a vital role in the spark of advocacy groups in the 21st century, in the current age that we live in, we have a wealth of information right at our fingertips. As a consequence of this, individuals are able to share pictures, videos and posts of events and injustices that can gain traction. This will process will potentially reach a majority of the networks, thus, becoming viral. Networking in social media is the most important thing, as this would lead to conversations. In the case of advocacy, these conversations will help you identify the key leaders in the community that you represent. You can take steps to amplify their voices and share in that effort by re-sharing content or following the hashtags that they advocate for. These important conversations will help individuals identify where their voice fits in their community. When taking Twitter as an example, Simpson mentioned that you have to figure out which niche category your voice fits in, which will help amplify your voice within your community and identify where there should be a call for change.

In a previous blog post of mine, I covered the idea of a “chosen space” for a platform (https://lifeandlemons.opened.ca/engaging-a-pln-to-discuss-an-emerging-topic/). Finding your chosen space is important since it will be the vehicle platform in which your voice would be heard. In a political setting, Twitter and Facebook were deemed as the most influential platforms. Taking Twitter for example, former president Donald Trump was able to weaponize this platform since he captured the attention from most media platforms for free! The backlash of this resulted in a community being separated, set against each other. Another example of this is the #blacklivesmatter movement which resulted in a worldwide movement that sparked in America, where the general public and government representatives realized the need for equality for all. As time passed, George Floyd became an international symbol for the advocation of equal rights for black communities and a means to an end for the privilege that certain communities are showered with.

 

How does social media use in public discourse potentially challenge advocacy communications?

Advocacy doesn’t need a certificate or a degree. We are the experts of our own lived in experiences and this becomes tangible within our communities. When we look for approval on our content from a 3rd party, this results in the loss of genuinity. Social media comes with a variety of negatives, where it can actually affect the well-being of advocates. One can receive many negative comments, social backlash and even to the extremes of death threats. The key to persevering in such a setting is to be confident in who you are, realize that you shouldn’t improve for other people, and answer the question “what does your advocacy mean to you?” There’s always pushback from all sides, and this is a result of the social media platforms being used to invoke social change — people are always scared of what they don’t understand.

To avoid potential backlash in your advocacy communications, you should work in a tactful way so that people do not rally against you. Think of it this way : if you are an advocate, your main goal is for your voice to be heard and resonate within people. If many members of your community(or others) support your idea(s), they will work on making efforts to amplifying your voice. Once the content has been virally shared across different platforms, the rest is history! You have just created a movement where important issues are brought to light.

 

References

Simpson, Markiel. “EDCI 338 – 2021 – 02 – 22 MARKIEL SIMPSON.” 21 Feb. 2021. doi: https://youtu.be/yCSpm1Lx8-A

One comment

  1. ihavespoken

    It’s a really good point that you describe social media using the word “viral”, that’s really accurate and I totally agree with you that social media can help us locate ourselves within the ongoing activities or advocacy. And last but not least, stand for yourself and be resilient to the negative voices on social media is a great lesson we all should learn!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *