Easy Ways to Harness Facebook for Advocacy : Part 1 of 3

By now, we have all heard about how social media is changing our relationship with power, but the question is how we do it. Some simple, easy strategies that everyone can take include following up calls, letters, and in-person meetings, tagging people and organizations with messages, posting and reposting salient articles, and actions out to your own network. We are going to be examining and explaining these techniques in a three-part blog.

Part 1 — Following up calls, letters, and in-person meetings

To communicate with your member of Congress (MOC) you need to either “like” his or her page or be his or her “friend.” In order to do “like” or “friend” someone, you must locate your MOC on Facebook by searching his or her name in the search box located at the very top of the page in the middle. After you have located your MOCs page, you will need either to “friend” or “like” the page in order to post there. Then, if your MOC has accepted, you will be able to post publicly on their wall. This place is perfect for an additional follow up to any previous contact you have had before such as phone calls, e-mails, letters, or even in-person meetings. These pages are normally monitored by congressional staff, and they are publicly available so that anyone who sees the page can see your comments. It is also an outstanding place to thank your MOC for specific actions in very public venue. It is also handy to comment on things your members post on Facebook — by commenting, your thoughts are then shared among all of those who also “like” your elected official.

Next time we will learn about posting and reposting and why it is important.