6 Ways to be a more effective Twitter #Resister
While DJT is planning a ONE BILLION DOLLAR disinformation campaign, #Resisters are standing up and speaking out one at a time. To raise our voices above the “censorship of noise” (the increasing level of disinformation campaigns), we have to become more effective in our efforts to resist.
“Once the cancer of authoritarianism gets into the veins and organs of society, it’s not easy to get-out — they have this very specific way of paralysing political mechanisms and dismantling the fundamental human logic.”
— Ece Temelkuran, Turkish journalist and author who experienced first hand what happens under dictatorship
While there are many ways to resist: social media, calling and writing politicians, marching, campaigning for candidates. This article is only about speaking out to the approximately 60 million Twitter accounts in the United States.
This resistance is about more than just the election in November, 2020, it’s about resisting the loss of our freedoms and the US democracy. It’s about preventing election interference both from Russia and anti-democracy forces within the US.
- Americans have been privileged to not have war on our shores for over 150 years. Perhaps that has made us complacent.
- We’ve prided ourselves on our fair elections and peaceful transfer of power from one party to another. Perhaps that has encouraged us to stay home on Election Day.
- On the whole, we’ve enjoyed leaders who were basically honest and wanted to serve the entire population. Perhaps that has made us think a dictator would never be able to gain hold of our systems of checks and balances.
Now we are faced with a different world and a very different political climate. We have to rise to the challenge … or face the very real possibility that our country will fail this experiment in democracy.
One of the first things to understand is your own power.
Your voice and your own story carry authenticity. Unlike disinformation campaigns, you are a real person with real life experience. When you speak from your own truth, people will hear you.
Here are some ideas to help your message be heard and listened to:
- Be Real. Be Kind. Be Truthful. Offer people your opinion, backed up by as much true documentation as possible.
- Use Images plus Words are more powerful than either by themselves. When you Retweet something, add a few words about why YOU think it’s important.
- Tell Real Stories of success or failure, love or loss that ring true. Become a fountain of truth in this world of distrust.
- Treat Everyone with Respect. Think about your audience as your neighbors. Talk to them as if you were sharing a recipe or a favorite movie. Try to understand their lives and problems. Try to open a conversation. If you get a response, stay engaged and stay on principles. Avoid getting dragged into endless discussions of past actions.
- Be Consistent and Positive. Pick a few issues that are important to you and focus on those in a factual, positive basis. Share information that supports how your issue could be a positive for everyone.
- Cite Credible Sources. This is tough since few sources are universally trusted. There are more individuals who might have a trusted status than almost any news source. Offer readers your best sources whenever possible.
About Your Bio
Your bio telegraphs who you are and whether or not readers should pay attention to you. If you froth at the mouth, other #Resisters may listen to you, but the people who need to hear what you want to say, probably won’t.
As I was writing this article, I looked at my own bio and saw my own frothing. Here’s my original bio, written when I was pissed about the results of the impeachment trial. Suddenly, I saw my own righteous ranting and realized that no one but other #Resisters would pay attention to this.
Here’s my new bio, written when I realized how much I care about what happens after the election. While I desperately want a new president, I also want a country that can go forward, serving all of us, instead to the division that is so painful right now. So, below is my new bio, and you can see my number of followers growing. I think that’s because most of us know we are going to have to be #StrongerTogether and are starting to focus on following each other to amplify our voices.
One bit of advice from all the research I’ve been gathering on how to be more effective on Twitter is to limit the number of hashtags and information we try to cram into our bios. Every once in a while, I see a dozen emojis and a bunch of hashtags in a bio and it just overwhelms me.
Try to be clear about who you are and what you stand for if you’re creating a #Resisters bio.
Two important articles for #Resisters:
The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-2020-disinformation-war/605530/
Quote: “But in the hands of a president who lies constantly, who traffics in conspiracy theories, and who readily manipulates the levers of government for his own gain, their potential to wreak havoc is enormous.”
A Conversation with Ece Temelkuran on How to Lose a Country, in 7 Steps.
Quote: “Politics has become entertainment — and people feel like their opinions do not matter any more…”
