Jorge Rivas (Racewire, ColorLines) and Samhita Mukhopadhyay (Feministing) facilitating this US Social Forum 2010 workshop. Below are some notes and audio recorded from the workshop.
Audio from the session available here (apologies for the disjointed audio, this is raw from the recorder, will try to get edits up soon and will post them here).
twitter hashtag: #ussfrj
I apologize that these notes are a little scattered. I'll take some time after the forum to bring some ideas together more coherently.
5 things you can do about the Oscar Grant shooting post as policy example. Cameraphones, videos went viral. Blogs kept the story in the news and shape and direct coverage. What separated the Oscar Grant case from other police murders is the video and photo documentation, and strategic efforts by online media to keep the issue alive, and shape the coverage of it. New media offers the opportunity to react to mainstream media coverage and put voices out that aren't being heard.
How do we connect to aggregator channels? Feministing is part of The Media Consortium, trying to create a progressive media echochamber. We can produce all we want, but if no one reads it, it isn't strategic.
Pitchengine is a free tool to package social media for reporters, and is helpful generator. Plugs right into social media. TV producers want to see video clips. Send it uncensored, they want controversy, under 3minutes.
Preparation is crucial when making media to insure you don't spend too much time editing.
Importance of organizing privacy settings on facebook, organizations on twitter. We have to be strategic about what we make public.
How do we reframe race and gender in new media? What are the frames we want to push, how do we build alternative echo chambers?
Be explicit - name communities, name impacts. If we don't talk about racism or sexism, how do we expect mainstream media to?
Get personal - it has to compelling, telling stories, but we have to connect it to systems and patterns
Find a hook - what's the story? why does it matter? Think about what would make you click on a link. Put together a hooks calendar, so you can connect your work to holidays, or other news events. Peg your releases to other news stories.
Be strategic - are you getting your message across? what's the most effective way to get the message out? If you don't need a blog, don't make one. Recognize what you have the capacity to do, and what supports the work you are doing. Measure impact, figure out metrics. Use bit.ly, google analytics, hootsuite. Consistent use is key, you have to build and maintain a presence. RSS automation - it's ok, but you have to be on there and live as well.
Talking about media planning - work on buidling partnerships, extending reach. Importance of generating new content, bringing new folks into content production. If you are misquoted, provides an opportunity to correct or reframe (politely, maintain relationship).
Make sure multiple platforms (FB/Twitter/Blog) all play nicely together, cross link. Know your constituents, meet them with what media they consume.
Our work is controversial, privacy is important, we can become targets. We have to be really careful with social media and what we share.
Know when to engage with trolls and comment flame wars, be strategic, don't get into unproductive fights.
Content design is crucial, it's easy to overwhelm. Hierarchy of information is important. Designing your writing is important too, you need to hook folks. Break your text down into skimmable chunks. Organizers have so much info, how do we make it accessible, break it down into small pieces and make it manageable. What does your audience absolutely need to know. Once you get them there, you can give them more. When thinking about headlines be direct and make it understandable.
The big lesson with online community - if you build it they will come. the best way to get traffic is to put info out.
Key considerations: strategy, consistency, design
