FOR COMMUNICATION:
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The Bonner Network Wiki (that's this!)
Bonner Congress has several pages dedicated to your work.
This includes an overview of Congress Reps’ roles, selection ideas, and:
- A live roster of Congress Representatives: keep your name, email, and phone up-to-date here.
- A place to post best practices: you can find trainings, advice, and examples from lots of schools and post your own.
- Your Big Idea Proposals: Reps posted your proposals there, and the Foundation will ask you to post the plans you create at this meeting and keep sharing during this year.
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The Bonner Network Forum
Bonner Congress has a group on the Forum (a Ning site).
This is an easy-to-use webpage where you can:
- Upload videos and photos: check out the video created by U of R Reps to prepare us for this meeting and photos from past conferences.
- Post questions and engage in dialogue: you can easily start topic-based chats and blogs here.
- Join other groups of interest like issue-based groups: there are groups for Homelessness, for example, or International Service. You can also start groups.
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Facebook: Bonner Congress
Bonner also uses Facebook. The National Bonner Network group has about 1,000 members (and growing). Also, Bonner Congress has a group, where you might:
- Post news and events: look for news about the IMPACT Conference in March or post your own campus events.
- Post photos: upload your Bonner albums and link them here.
- Stay in touch socially: duh!
- Read the Congress Announcements. Foundation staff and interns periodically send out info about conferences, jobs, Bonner Partners and other info.
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FOR ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
In the age of social media tools, you don’t have true friendship until it’s “Facebook official.” From Facebook to YouTube, Twitter to Wikis, and everything in between, social media tools are a great way to stay connected with friends, family, and coworkers. However, we in the Bonner Network aren’t just about connecting socially on the web, we have taken social media to a whole new level. We have begun the Serve 2.0 Initiative in order to expand the impact of service and social justice in our communities. One of the ways in which social media tools have been used at campuses around the country is for advocacy and public education.
Macalester College: Using Video to Train Advocates
Mandatory training meetings on college campuses are difficult because no one seems to be on the same schedule. But with social media tools like YouTube, campuses like Macalester College have found new ways to train leaders and spread their message. Macalester participates in 'Day at the Capitol', an event where students from across Minnesota go the the state capitol to lobby for the MN State Grant Program. To help prepare Macalester Bonners for the event, a short informative video was made to explain what students should expect for the day and how students should communicate with their legislators. The video was then uploaded onto YouTube and the link was send to the students to watch. Students thought the video was informational and brought a large group of students to the event. Bonner Coordinator Consuelo Gutierrez-Crosby remarks about the future of video in the program, "We will be making a Bonner recruitment video to use in recruiting potential first years to the program we hope to have that done by April. We will also be having students make videos of their work with community partners to aid potential program participants in making a decision to apply to Bonner. They will be able to see first hand some partner sites and hear about the impact of Bonners at the site." Below is the video used to prepare students for the event:
Thinking Outside the Box: RESULTS
RESULTS is one of the Bonner Foundation's amazing partners whose "mission is to create the public and political will to end poverty by empowering individuals to exercise their personal and political power for change." By utilizing both grassroots activists and strategic efforts, RESULTS continues to help raise funds for important programs and improve policies in an effort to end poverty. RESULTS has an official presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace but the group also uses videos and blogs. The most successful of all these social media tools has been Facebook according to RESULTS Director of Domestic Campaigns Meredith Dodson. RESULTS works to utilize all the features of the site as Dodson explains, "Each month, we have a basic action we urge all of our activists to take and in Dec 2010 for the first time we had folks use social media-- by changing their status message (and tagging RESULTS) with talking points and a toll-free # to call Congress supporting health coverage & access for low-income Americans in the health reform debate. Between 100-200 people posted something." The use of social media tools shows how creativity can be used instead of using Facebook or video in the same way every time. In addition to Facebook, RESULTS uses videos for major conferences and presentations. As the use of social media tools increases among target audiences, these tools will become indespensible aspects of advocacy and public education. For more information about RESULTS, visit their website at results.org.
Pulitzer Center: Using Video to Spread the Message
The Pulitzer Center, another one of the Bonner Foundation's amazing partners, "is an innovative non-profit leader in supporting the independent international journalism that U.S. media organizations are increasingly less able to undertake." Pulitzer Center employs many different social media tools in the effort to bring high quality international news to diverse audiences. While Facebook and Twitter have been incredibly successful, the organization also makes effective use of their YouTube channel. The organization uploads videos to the site to highlight important stories in addition to directly interacting with Pulitzer Center's partners and supporters. To date, the organization has received over one million video views. Pulitzer Center strongly believes that social media provide valuable opportunities to reach new audiences as well as long time followers. By uploading videos to YouTube, holding live conference updates via Twitter, and promoting events on Facebook, Pulitzer Center has effectively spread their message beyond what was possible before. Mark Stanley, New Media Strategist for Pulitzer Center, comments, "Social media provide a great opportunity for audience members to become more directly involved in your message, either by providing feedback or passing your content along to other people. Encourage this interaction as much of possible." Pulitzer Center's use of their social media tools continues to demonstrate the powerful ways in which Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can be used by Bonner campuses to impact their communities. Watch the video below to see an example of Pulitzer Center's YouTube video journalism:
For more information about Pulitzer Center, visit their website at www.pulitzercenter.org
Get great tips and ideas on how to use social media tools at your campus by reading the full interviews from Macalester, Pulitzer Center, and RESULTS, Click Here
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