darfur for un
TRANSCRIPT
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Twitter essentials
• Users contribute 140-character messages known as “tweets” via Web or mobile device.
• Twitter aggregates all user messages into a main feed
• Users can choose to follow one another, thus creating a live updated feed of select tweets.
• It is a social network of sharing our lives and our information, built on “weak ties”
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Three basic functions of Twitter
• Contribute (tweet)
• Amplify (retweet): Take a message from someone you follow and broadcast it out to your followers
• Converse (reply): You can reply to a user’s tweet in a message that is public, but generally only seen by that user.
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Why Twitter?
• It is open to all
• Medium is ideal for scanning
• Twitter functions on culture of sharing information and links
• Size is less of a factor. Even if my follower number is small, you can reach many if your followers retweet you
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@DarfurConflict
• A team of 5-8 students operating on a schedule.
• Two of them per day posting 140-character “tweets” from the DarfurConflict account
• Messages repurpose items about Darfur in the news, distilling key info and providing link
• Work done to build network of followers
– Following people tweeting about Darfur
– Thanking new followers
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Mass reach: Retweets
• Posting messages to followers is good, but real value lies in “retweets” because it gets beyond the first level of your followers.
• Value: Message moves beyond your followers, is exposed to your followers’ network.
– Wider exposure of message
– Leads to more followers (they join your network)
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Initial effort
Lehigh
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Initial followers
Follower
Follower
Follower
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Power of networks
Darfur Conflict
Reach: 1338
Reach: 174,832
Reach: > 2m
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More reach: hashtags
• Hashtags are single words or phrases preceded by a “#” sign.
• Hashtags become links, a conversation filter
• Our students use #Darfur, #Sudan and others
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A hub and a spoke
Follower
Follower
Follower
Follower
Follower
Follower
Follower
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Benefits
• From 0 to almost 1350 followers in 18 months
• Lehigh has joined an important conversation
– About 3-4 tweets per day
– About half of the accounts tweets are being retweeted, meaning a much larger audience
– Followers include
• International government officials
• U.S. government officials
• Activist networks concerned about Darfur
• Journalists (CNN National Security, NYT, e.g.)
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Lessons from @DarfurConflict
• Large follower counts less valuable than having the right followers
• Influence on Twitter is the result of both listening and sharing
• Retweetsare a way to gauge value, what is resonating with your followers.
• The reach of six students half a world away can be enormous and keep news in faraway places on the public consciousness.