How can we employ social media to make social change?

Ask Allison Fine, Author of Momentum

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Q: What are social media?

A: Social media are interactive digital tools. It includes the Internet, but much more such as cell phones, and iPods. For social change efforts they can be organized into tools that help us communicate, collaborate, create our own media content and organize locally. The use of social media doesn't replace the need to meet face-to-face, but augments and depends that experience.

Q: The Internet and cell phones have been around for ten years, why is this important now?

A. Social media tools are smaller, cheaper and widespread. Through text messages, instand messaging, emailing and Internet videos, we are creating and sharing news and information at large scale, inexpensively and instantly. People are longing for authentic two-way conversations, effective connected activists are beginning to give them that opportunity.

Q: How do social media change how we make social change?

A: They unleash enormous vitality and creativity that leads to all sorts of innovation. The true power of the Connected Age is the ability of many people to participate in conversations. The face of social change is changing as well. We are used to seeing movement spearheaded by one or a few public faces. Now, as with the immigration marches last spring, people are becoming engaged from friend-to-friend communications, such as email or text messages. As a result they are able to participate in large numbers when and how they choose. To succeed, we need not be bigger, just smarter, more agile, more open and connected. Somehow, a while back, we slipped from solving social problems to treating social ills. The concepts of openness and connectedness that fuel the spread of social media helps us get back on track.

Q: How do social media shift the flow of power?

A: They push power from the center to the edges. For example, at a recent Earth Day gathering, an A-list speaker was addressing a room full of environmental entrepreneurs. One activist in the crowd got increasingly frustrated with the direction of the remarks. Instead of biting his tongue or blogging later, he quickly texted two like-minded colleagues. Together, the trio came up with the right questionsand the right activist who was recognized from the podium. The result? They shifted the conversation side-to-side and engaged the whole audience in another discussion, within minutes.

Q: How are your views being received?

A: With enthusiasm and relief on the part of activists who know that they have to work differently but aren't sure how to start. There's no one-size-fits-all in social change. Many new organizations and young activists, born wired, get it right away. But you need not be a twenty-something geek to embrace social media. Blackberries beneath burkas, immigrants with iPods, seniors who IM their grandkids are all part of the Connected Age.

Q: What did you see that surprised you the most?

A: The ease with which people are connecting with one another using social media in such a short period of time. Connectedness has quietly seeped into our everyday lives. Can you remember a time before cell phones or email? Would you want to go back to the photo store to get reprints to snail out to your family and friends? Social media has gotten into our marrow and changed the way that we think about our lives at work and at home. Pushing power to the edges is also counterintuitive but incredibly effectively. I was taken with counterintuitive tales, like the filthy beach in Gloucester, MA that got cleaner, not with more trash barrels, but with none. All the uncommon sense out there, waiting to be tapped and shared, just blew me away.

Q: What's the biggest barrier to making the kinds of transformations you describe?

A: For social change activists, it is realizing that institutions are no longer the center of power. The role of institutions is changing, they need to lift less and leverage more, stop dictating and start listening in order to stay relevant. It's not our ignorance of tools, but our fear of the unknown that hold most of us back. Plus, in our society, it's tough to collaborate. We reward winners, not team players. But I'm here to tell you that mastering interactive calendars or sending photos on cell phones isn't rocket science. It doesn't take an advanced degrees or specialized skill to succeed in the Connected Age, just lots of old-fashioned confidence, some time and faith. All of us born before personal computers have already made the biggest leap, when we went online. The rest is a piece of cake.

Q: What's the biggest mistake people make when they embrace social media?

A: Well, sometimes we apply top-down thinking to side-to- side tools. You'd never treat a Swiss army knife like it was just a corkscrew. So why limit social media to be online monologues and brochureware? Too often, out of desperation, we mistake new tools for new solutions. Just as communications bells and whistles in grant proposals are no substitute for solid strategies, social media should complement, not supplant strong programs.

Q: What kinds of advances have you seen since writing Momentum?

A: I see exciting changes on at least two levels. In the toolbox, I'm seeing more groups employ networked online calendars to end time consuming scheduling snafus. In the mindset, I see more activists shed their proprietary straitjackets for more open collaborations.

Q: You advise us to be interactive. How do you apply that to this book?

A: I'm so glad you asked. Rather than remain a message in a bottle, I hope Momentum becomes a compass, like George Lakoff's Don't Think of An Elephant or Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point. I want to interact with my readers from the start. I want to hearand shareyour stories about harnessing social media to spark social change. So don't just read Momentum. Please come to afine@afine.us and jump right into the mix. Make publishing history; post your contribution to our interactive epilogue. Then, get into a heated exchange with some passionate activist who sees things differentlyso you both learn something new, maybe even work together.

Q: What's your best advice for an aspiring connected activist?

A: After you enjoy Momentum? Start by thinking of what you are, instead of defining yourself by what you're not. Play with new tools until you're comfortable using them, so you won't try them once, then abandon them. Learn to listen more than you talk, and by that I don't just mean wait quietly for your turn to speak. Unlock those golden handcuffs to traditional funding sources and unleash enormous creativity, vitality and get to all sorts of great places.