Susannah Vila
Sustain a Social Movement After Initial Successes
At Mashable, I just posted some tips for keeping supporters engaged around a campaign or cause, in the context of recent and ongoing pro-democracy campaigns in the Middle East and North Africa. Here’s an excerpt:
Egyptians’ effective use of Facebook has given life to a slew of hopeful pages and groups throughout the region. This makes sense: Facebook, if combined with the right message, the right environment and the right people can indeed help to spark massive crowds. New technologies make it easier to get more information out to more people, more quickly. The result? Town squares and plazas teeming with protesters. Two ousted dictators and two more on the brink.
Unfortunately, the quicker you mobilize, the less time there is to plan. The less the need for a traditional organization, the bigger the vacuum left after an initial big success. Whether it’s a huge protest, a victorious election, an ousted dictator or a momentous piece of breaking news, it’s more important than ever for movement builders and members to prepare for day two.
- Build on Success
- Get More Organized
- Adapt Your Vision
- Get Feedback
- Go Public With Your New Vision
- Redefine Leadership
As Egypt demonstrates, it’s a lot easier to complete the first day of a revolution than the second. Holding together a large coalition is simpler when everyone is on board and the goal, be it an election or an ouster, is obvious. It’s not as easy to come up with a new vision, especially when the changed landscape is marked by infighting, confusion and the same entrenched interests as before. But, if you support your movement building with strong strategy and long-term thinking, then the chances are a lot higher that all of your demands will be met — and will stay met.
For more resources on this topic take a peek at the strategy guides at Movements.org.
How Can Tech-Enhanced Social Movements Keep Going?
As someone who looks closely at the role of new technologies in movement building, it’s been interesting, and often disheartening, to see how youth movements that are harnessing technology more than ever also face challenges in reconstituting themselves after initial big successes. The characteristics of a networked social movement are as advantageous for mobilization as they are hurdles for building capacity on top of those initial crowds.
So that’s what I’ve been talking about these past two weeks - first in Miami at a conference organized by Ashoka, the global network of social entrepreneurs, and then in New Jersey at Seton Hall Law School and in Philadelphia at WHHY Radio and the National Constitution Center. Here are the slides. If you have any thoughts on the topic please get in touch!
21st century movements View more presentations from Susannah Vila
Lessons Learned from the Arab Spring
At the South by Southwest conference in Austin, TX last week, I spoke about lessons learned for activists from the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Here’s an excerpt from my write up of the talk, posted at Movements.org:
SXSW Interactive is over, and I’m happy to report that while the topic of technology’s role in social movements was was a popular one, I never once heard the question “Was it a Twitter/Facebook Revolution?” asked in earnest.
One of the benefits of events, like this one, which bring together different organizations in the same field is that it allows everyone talking and writing about similar topics to come to consensus. That consensus was the final takedown of the cyber-optimist versus cyber-pessimist debate in favor of a more practical and nuanced understanding.
In another great recap at the National Democratic Institute’s technology blog, my co-panelist Katherine Maher notes that:
…Jen Preston and Brian Stelter of the NY Times leading the #socialfuel conversation to a full house as a continuation and expansion of the discussion of our panel - addressing the role of the press, risk to journalists and sources, and the creeping spectre of bias.
Indeed it was great to see the discussion continue beyond our talk on the first day, culminating in a panel on human rights within online platforms. Some other cool blog coverage of the panel can be found here and here.
Susannah works at the intersection of social change and new technologies.
