I spend too much time on Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes I wish I could just unplug. However, social media is a great organizing tool and a good way to get information that is not from the corporate-owned neo-liberal media.
At Common Cause, we use a lot of social media in our work. I am happy to report the following metrics from Common Cause Delaware:
• Between 1/1/15 and 12/10/15, we grew our CCDE email list by over 400 people, from 902 to 1,341 — a 48% increase, and 28% of the current list has taken one or more online advocacy action in the last 12 months.
• Our members participated in online advocacy opportunities included in our emails a total of 1,521 times by sending a message to their national or state elected officials.
• We also saw increased activity on our Facebook page. There were 1,500 interactions (likes, comments and shares) on Facebook this year, despite a relatively small number of page likes (400) — as many interactions as larger states like Massachusetts (who has over 1,200 likes on their page). CCDE FB’s page has grown by 250 likes since January 2015 (a 60% increase).
• Our Twitter feed has issued 609 Tweets and we have been mentioned in by others 209 times.
So I am really working when I spend time surfing FB and Twitter!
Of course this reminds me of a meme: “Cats turn everything into play. Humans turn everything into work.”