The Twittersphere as Megaphone, Focus Group
The decision by lawmakers to push a charities-only tax bill in the waning days of the 113th Congress was not made until the weekend of December 6; the bill (H.R.5806) was introduced on Monday the 8th, and House floor vote occurred on Thursday the 11th. The nonprofit community had to coalesce and mobilize very, very quickly in that compressed time period. “Tweets” turned out to be an effective tool for action advocacy as well as message development.
While not suited for providing detailed analyses of policy proposals, tweets were ideal for getting the word out and for connecting interested people to actions they could take to make a difference. For example, most state associations of nonprofits sent out ACTION ALERT emails to their members on the Monday morning, and expanded their reach by tweeting the news as well. Multiple national groups also used this medium and shared common messages to frame and drive home consistent messages to lawmakers. Many nonprofit staffers who didn’t receive (or received but didn’t read) the email messages caught wind of the campaign either directly from the state association or other national groups' tweets, or from a friend retweeting the message. Mobilization was near instantaneous.
And as a peer-to-peer mobilizer, the use of pictures proved powerful, as this image demonstrates:
Perhaps the most tweeted and retweeted messages were those that combined compassion and outrage over congressional inattention: “Hungry families will still be hungry in January if#HR5806 is voted down in the House today. Demand@HouseDemocrats @HouseGOP vote YES!,” and “It is time for warmer hearts. Tell your Rep to vote YES on #HR5806 #IdahoPol.”
And then there is the follow up after the votes have been cast and counted. Despite the outcome of the vote on H.R.5806, the Supporting America’s Charities Act, effective nonprofit advocates took to Twitter to swiftly register their appreciation to the Representatives who stood up to support the work of charitable nonprofits (e.g. from Kentucky, “Thanks @RepHalRogers@RepAndyBarr @RepEdWhitfield @RepThomasMassie@RepGuthrie for supporting #HR5806. Pls keep working to #protectgiving!”)
Social media has been used as an advocacy tool for several years, but it is still evolving. Tweets during the campaign to pass the Supporting America’s Charities Act showed the effectiveness of this tool and demonstrated that in the hands of creative and passionate advocates, tweets can cut to the essence of the issues at hand.
