Part 1 of the New Media Track at the Immigrant National Convention in Montgomery, Alabama. December 16, 2011

1. New Media Track
December 16 & 17, 2011
Nicole Cairns & Allie Carter
Reform Immigration FOR America online team

2. Welcome to the
New Media Track!

3. Meet your trainers!
Nicole Cairns Garlin Gilchrist
Online Director, Reform Immigration FOR America National Campaign Director, MoveOn.org
Contact: ncairns@communitychange.org Contact: garlin@garlin.org
Allie Carter Nathan Ryan
New Media Associate, Reform Immigration Online Advocacy Manager, Illinois Coalition for
FOR America Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Contact: acarter@communitychange.org Contact: nryan@icirr.org
2011 Immigrant National Convention

4. Why Are We Here Today?
PURPOSE:
- Train and review tools, best practices and case studies of new
media to reinforce the connection between online and offline
organizing and how it relates to our issue-based and electoral work.
OUTCOMES:
- Develop campaign planning skills and begin to brainstorm ideas for
issue-based and electoral online organizing campaigns together.
- Start building relationships with online organizers from other
states/organizations for future collaboration.
PROCESS:
- 4 trainers, 3 sessions, 2 breakouts.

5. What to expect from today’s track
What this session is: What this session isn’t:
• Overview of online • Social media training
organizing tools, including
RI4A lists on email and SMS
• Discussion on building lists
• Exploring issue-based and
electoral online organizing • Planning your localized
campaigns issue-based or electoral
campaigns
• Devising scenario-based
strategies for online
organizing
2011 Immigrant National Convention

6. Overview
Over the next three sessions, we’ll answer the
following questions:
1. What do online organizing campaigns look like?
2. How do you plan an issue-based online
campaign?
3. How do you support election-based strategies
with an online campaign?

7. Themes
-What tools are available for online
organizing and how to best use those tools
-Tying online tactics into traditional
organizing tactics
-Lifting up local narratives of injustice on a
larger scale

8. WHAT IS ONLINE ORGANIZING?

9. The basics:
Online organizing is online
communication, outreach, and
mobilization that allows
individuals to take part in your
work, as a complement to
traditional organizing.

10. Who’s Online?
From the Care2 blog, October 2011 –
Facebook:
o 143 million monthly US users
o 55% female, 45% male
o 27% under 18, 42% 18-34, 20% 35-49, 12% 50+
o 75% Caucasian, 13% African American, 5% Asian, 6% Hispanic, 1% Other
Twitter:
o 5th most popular site in the US
o 55% female, 45% male
o 18% under 18, 45% 18-34, 24% 35-49, 14% 50+
o 69% Caucasian, 16% African American, 3% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 1% Other
YouTube:
o 145 million monthly US users
o 50% female, 50% male
o 26% under 18, 36% 18-34, 22% 35-49, 16% 50+
o 65% Caucasian, 13% African American, 7% Asian, 14% Hispanic, 1% Other

11. Why should you do online organizing?
Reach large, new audiences Affordable, but not easy
• Find your audiences where • Most online campaigns only
they are. cost staff time. Majority of
• Reach new audiences when tools are free or low-cost to
campaigns go viral and/or get use and maintain.
heavily shared/earned media.
• Online duties shouldn’t
• Provide safe spaces for your automatically be handed off to
audience to interact with you
and others in the same an intern or low-ranking staff
situation. member.
• Communicate instantly with • Should be cultivated within
people interested in your larger organizational strategies
cause and/or need your help. and goals, communications.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

12. Where have we seen
successful online organizing?
The It Gets Better
campaign.
-Started as a video on
YouTube by national
columnist Dan Savage.
-Responses from
President
Obama, Stephen
Colbert, thousands
others.
-More than 3 million
views on YouTube
page, model for Google’s
national TV campaign.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

13. Where have we seen
successful online organizing?
The 2009 Iran
election protests.
-Protests broke out in Tehran;
government blocked internet
access to limit
communications between
activists.
-Activists used their phones
and documented the protests,
communicate with each other
through Twitter and YouTube.
-People around the world
followed #iranelection on
Twitter to get real-time
updates and photos/video.
-Frequently billed as the
“Twitter Revolution”.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

14. Where have we seen
successful online organizing?
Occupy Wall Street and
other protests across
the US.
-Originated in a blog post on
Adbusters’ website in July 2011.
-Started as a mini-sit in on Wall
Street. Protests have occurred in
every state, in dozens of
countries, and on 6 continents.
-Real-time tweeting, video
capturing, and photosharing have
propelled the movement and
inspired others to join.
-Support campaigns like
http://westandwiththe99percent.tum
blr.com/ have popped up.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

15. Why were these
campaigns
successful?
2011 Immigrant National Convention

16. Why these campaigns were
successful:
• Used technology to • Using online tools allow
capitalize on a key people to document
moment in time. actions, add
commentary, and tell
• Compelling their stories.
content, dispersed
across multiple • Campaigns are
channels spread authentic, original, and
messages quickly. creative.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

17. WHAT TOOLS SHOULD YOU USE
FOR ONLINE ORGANIZING?

18. Social Media
2011 Immigrant National Convention

19. Facebook
Use Facebook for sharing dynamic content with your followers. Facebook allows you
to post photos and videos, link to other organizations, and communicate with people
instantly. When the DHS announcement was made in August, we used our Facebook
page as a forum to let people from our online community to ask questions about the
details of the change.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

20. Twitter
Connect with people talking about the issues you're interested in and
respond to them instantly.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

21. YouTube
Document actions, testimonials from your community, and promote on social
media channels. If you have a smart phone, you can upload videos instantly.
Other flipcams or hand-held cameras make it easy to export videos and upload
them quickly.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

22. Email Communications
What can email communications
do for your campaign?
-Drive people to your
website, social media channels.
-Communicate with whole list
with one foul swoop
-Use targeting to segment your
messages (city, legislative district)
Other e-mail tools:
-Petitions
-Letters to the Editor
-Click to Call
-Donations
2011 Immigrant National Convention

23. SMS (text messaging)
Communications
What SMS can do for you:
-Educate list on important issues in your
area
-Build crowds for events
-Drive calls to legislators, elected
officials, and other targets
Who’s on the RI4A list?
-87,667 English speaking subscribers
-91,109 Spanish speaking subscribers
What you have access to:
-Email and SMS lists built by RI4A and
FIRM groups throughout 2010
-Messaging cities or states about issues
you’re working on
-Printouts of lists for cold-calling, other
organizing work
What you don’t have access to:
-Uploading lists into outside databases
-Sending national alerts about local issues
2011 Immigrant National Convention

24. Accessing the RI4A List
FIRM members have access to use the RI4A SMS list to drive calls, build crowds, reruit
volunteers and communicate with members in their communities/states. RI4A staff
are working on a system to share names and can talk about FIRM members outside of
the training. Non-FIRM members can work with RI4A to promote messages to the
“lists” (events, actions).
2011 Immigrant National Convention

25. Mini Case Study:
RI4A working in Alabama
- Came to Alabama to help out in
October
- Worked with organizers, national
and ACIJ
- Promotion of text number at
radio stations
- Produced fliers/posters for the
Coalition
- Our working with organizers on
the ground and helping ACIJ build
an online organizing plan and
social media presences. Trained
staff on how to use and maintain
online work.
- June 2011: 689 subscribers
- October 2011: ~1,000
subscribers
- Today: 2,321 and growing
- People now receive alerts catered
to their community and how they
can learn more about their rights
and help repeal HB56.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

26. What can/can’t these tools do?
CAN CAN’T
- Message large quantities of - Replace actual organizers
people interested in our and face-to-face meetings
cause(s) at once with community members
- Creatively engage
supporters in new ways and
let community members
interact with one another
- Connect local stories to
national figures/media
2011 Immigrant National Convention

27. If you’d like to talk more about accessing the RI4A list and how the list
can benefit your organization…
Contact Nicole Cairns at ncairns@communitychange.org or Allie Carter at
acarter@communitychange.org.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

28. CASE STUDIES OF
ONLINE ORGANIZING

29. KEY TAKEAWAYS

30. Key Takeaways
• Sharing our stories through online/offline can
result in huge outcomes: policy changes, ousting
elected officials
• Online tools should compliment offline organizing
strategies and campaigns
• Online organizing has permeated our culture and
become a significant method for organizing for
progressive action.
• Usage of online organizing can bring people
together in new communities to share their
stories, connect, and build power together

31. HAVE A QUESTION?

32. Thanks for coming to the session!
Have questions? Contact us!
Nicole Cairns, Online Director, RI4A – ncairns@communitychange.org
Allie Carter, New Media Associate, RI4A – acarter@communitychange.org
Garlin Gilchrist, II, National Campaign Director, MoveOn.org – garlin@garlin.org
Nathan Ryan, Online Advocacy Manager, ICIRR – nryan@icirr.org
2011 Immigrant National Convention