6 Tips for Starting and Running Your Digital Activism Group
With digital activism is still in its infancy, it can be hard to find people who have “been there, done that” with figuring out what makes a digital activism group work. Or not work. That’s why when you can find someone, you sit them down for a coffee, and take as many notes possible. And so you don’t have to, we did just that.
Morgan Schutterle, Co-Founder, Treasurer and Admin of Women’s March Iowa (WMIA), explained best practices to starting and running a digital activism group. The group consists of 10,000 members from across the state and is highly active. Nearing its first birthday this month, Schutterle gives tips from her experience in starting a digital activism group.
- Establish rules and guidelines.
One of the most basic of steps, but also one of the most important. Establishing rules and guidelines about good conduct in the group are integral in forming a productive digital activist group.
When discourse gets intense, or disagreements in opinions occur, having rules and guidelines can help remind members how to talk to each other over the internet.
Schutterle said that as a digital activist, one of the ways she has grown is talking to other people through the group. However, it has been challenging because “a lot of people want to say they’re right in digital activism circles, and they don’t want to learn anything else.” Having those rules can help remind members the reason they are there.
2. Have a strong message and engage with the “real world.”
Digital activism is more than about sharing articles and ideas around the internet. Digital activists can utilize their group to create events and organize meetings outside in the real world.
Schutterle said that she felt like this was something WMIA is still trying to figure out. “A lot of groups have meetings outside- smaller group meetings. We have big events, I feel like Women’s March hasn’t done very much to be outside of groups. But having a really strong message helps, getting people motivated to come.”
3. Stay up-to-date on the issues.
“There will be people who know more than you in the group, and there will be people who know less. So it’s just a learning curve,” Schutterle said.
Past are the days where groups focused on one singular issue. Instead, digital activists are now more interested in intersectionality, or how different aspects of humanity intersect and interact with each other.
That is why a women’s rights groups like Women’s March Iowa focuses not just on gender equality, but issues such as racial equality and LGBTQ rights. WMIA calls focusing on the array of issues as unity principles, meaning they try to stand in solidarity with other digital and non-digital activist’s movements. In the group’s feed one can not only find posts about the gender pay gap or the #MeToo movement, but about Black Lives Matter and DACA recipients too.
Knowing the current issues and trends is essential to operating an activism group online. Track your local and federal politics on the issues your group cares about. Monitor bills, laws and public events — -and then analyze, prepare, and respond. If you don’t know what is happening, how can you be expected to mobilize or act?
4. Set up a QA section.
Since part of digital activism is so much about learning, Schutterle recommends implementing a group module where members can ask questions about topics and events. Other members can respond with their opinions or understanding about something. The goal of this is to foster a space where people can simply ask questions and try to understand issues more, instead of engaging in a debate or discussion as they do in the main group channels.
Schutterle said that sometimes it feel likes people won’t learn unless you “shove something their face….I guess in a lot of issues and situations there are people who haven’t experienced those and they try to put their input in there when it’s not needed.”
Having a QA can help teach people when their input is appropriate and necessary, and when it is not. This will help group members but understand their issues and further the cause in a supportive environment.
5. Choose good moderators and administrators.
If you have been on the internet for more than two minutes, than by now you are more than aware of the vitriol it produces by both well-meaning and ill-meaning commentators and users. As much as you may love to argue and insult random strangers on the internet, sometimes it is not conducive to a productive environment for an activism group.
That’s where moderators and administrators, or “mods” and “admins” come in. They are the key leaders and regulators of a group’s content and activities. These are the people who help control the group and moderate discussion when things get heated over intense topics.
“Things can get out of control fast depending on the size,” Schutterle said. “There are some people who are very much like the ‘I would like to talk to the management’ type of people if you don’t side with them on an issue. Sometimes [they will] try to get you in trouble with a higher up, like the President of the group.”
Both mods and admins are responsible for upholding the group’s internal rules and guidelines, and have a set of nifty internet powers: accepting or rejecting members, reviewing posts and comments, and removing disruptive members from the groups.
However, admins have, well, more administrative power than mods. They can manage the group settings such as privacy and details, and name or remove other admins or mods.
Given their power within a group, mods and admins must be chosen carefully. Some qualities Schutterle advises mods and admins to have are: have a thick skin, and the ability to stay calm.
“There are some people who will throw nasty comments at you. I’ve been accused of hating white women and hating myself and stuff like that. And it’s ridiculous honestly. Staying calm is definitely a positive. The fights can get pretty intense,” she said.
6. Keep a separate group for mods and admins.
After choosing your mods and admins, it’s important to create a separate group for the mods and admins from the main activist group. Creating an additional virtual space helps leaders have a place to ask questions, get support and consult on intense issues and circumstances.
Schutterle recommends some type of training, specifically for high pressure situations. This training would help the group leaders “calm people down and diffuse the situation.”
