collaboration among team members. Take parcel taxes in school districts. The
successful ones are those where classified, certificated and administrative staff have worked with parents and business lead- ers to move the campaign with a common, clear message. Working together isn’t just enjoyable – it’s critical. Only when we mobi- lize our collective power and talents can we move forward our goals of social and politi- cal change.
The role of Facebook Facebook is one tool that, due to its free
nature and expanse of 600 million users, is too good to pass up. Add to that the abil- ity people have to opt in to a campaign or school/district page and the 24/7 news feed and Facebook sounds better and better. Caution! Facebook isn’t a silver bullet. Those 600 million people can provide
a lot of content, which fills news feeds and status updates with a lot of stuff. And there are other groups to compete with – lots of them! Unfortunately, because anyone can “opt in” it also may be that you have follow- ers or “like” members who are checking out the conversation but really may not be sup- porters. Group size does not indicate general interest. Don’t forget that not everyone has a Facebook account, so you’ll need to rely on other communication tools as well. To start with, we recommend the creation
of a district Facebook page where highlights of district work, students and staff successes, and initiatives can be shared on a regular basis. Having followers who are regularly aware of your successes and are connected with your message help you better position the district when its time for a bond measure or parcel tax. Be clear about your goals – communicate
to others the current fiscal situation and suc- cesses of programs that might be reduced or eliminated. Get people involved, which means sharing the site with constituent groups, elected officials, community lead- ers and others who need to know about your work. After all, you can have a great message but if you are talking to a few friends in a closet, why bother? The San Diego Unified School District has a robust following on Facebook. Its base
20 Leadership
of nearly 1,500 users post messages, share photos, and read the latest successes of the district. From Teacher of the Year celebra- tions to students earning awards and col- lege scholarships, the message shared on the SDUSD page is that programs are strong, students are achieving, and communication is transparent. TICAL, the Technology Information
Center for Administrative Leadership, also effectively uses Facebook. Jason Borgen, manager of the site, said that “using Face- book as a school communication tool allows
the rise in mobile devices and the increased use of text messaging as a communication medium. One of the unique approaches for Twitter
is to deliver messages that the mainstream media might not pick up, such as grassroot fundraising campaigns, moves to add more crosswalks to certain school neighborhoods, and more. News travels fast within the Twit- ter community and provides a sense of im- mediacy not found in other modes of com- munication. Models include the American Red Cross (@redcross) and the Humane Society (@humanesociety). The challenge with Twitter is that if you
have many followers and they follow many others, it can be hard to find the messages you might be sending out unless they go di- rectly to your feed. Furthermore, the short nature means that being concise is a neces- sity, and sometimes telling our story in edu- cation isn’t possible with a message length of 140 characters. Many Twitter users have found success by posting links to websites, blogs, videos and photos when a short text message is not sufficient. Twitter’s strength lies in its numbers and
educators to merge one’s personal and pro- fessional life in a unique and indirect way.” He regularly updates the TICAL page with
significant and timely resources for school leaders. Many of these resources also come from the TICAL website, but because edu- cational leaders are very busy, they may for- get to check the site or even read the TICAL eBlast. Why not embed significant events, re- sources, and research within their personal social network? This is a great strategy that works to reach more users and can be shared by users across the Facebook platform.
Twitterific Twitter is a microblog, a forum for small
messages of up to 140 characters. Originally designed to answer the question, “What are you doing?” it was created for people to keep in touch with friends. Although growth has slowed lately, it was gaining users at aston- ishing rates – as high as 1,392 percent during 2009. The ability for the posts to be received as text alerts is one of the reasons for the rapid growth. It is no coincidence that the use of Twitter has increased in tandem with
ability to have a community feel. One strat- egy is to make your tweets (your messages) conversational, often asking questions or giving data on what program impacts could be. Use your personality! Even though this is a social media tool and you may be doing it for a school or district campaign, main- tain a conversational, fun, down-to-earth approach. Connect with other people or or- ganizations that are like-minded and “fol- low them.” The more you follow others, the more followers you will have who can often “retweet” your messages for broader mes- sage distribution.
eBlasts With advocacy efforts, the aim is to cre-
ate change or engage action. A full media strategy for getting out a message from your district or school cannot ignore the impact of e-mails or electronic newsletters, affec- tionately known as “eBlasts.” eBlasts are an efficient way to share information with the masses. Possible uses of e-mail for advocacy can include: Continued on page 22
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