#Hashtag Takeovers and Successes in Innovative Virtual Activism

The goal of this panel is to uncover new and exciting ways to use social media as a means for social change. This session will go beyond the basics—sending targeted action alerts and creating online petitions—and discover fresh and innovative virtual campaigning techniques for real results.

When NASA public affairs specialist Stephanie Schierholz was speaking on a customer service panel at TWTRCON, PETA asked monkey-loving supporters to hijack the #TWTRCON hashtag with messages of about NASA's plan to fund cruel experiments in which dozens of squirrel monkeys would be blasted with harmful space radiation. Tweets about NASA's radiation experiments began appearing on the conference’s large projectors meant to display tweets about the event.

In another example of a non-profit getting the upper-hand online, Greenpeace created a parody YouTube video, calling into question Nestlé’s methods for acquiring palm oil, which spread rapidly through online community channels and eventually caused Nestlé to meet their demands within just a few weeks of the campaign's start. Mainstream media covered the video and Nestles failure to manage dissent on their Facebook page.

Using inventive tactics to leverage social media for good means creating the possibility for millions of passionate people to band together and create tangible change, wherever, whenever, whoever they are.

LEVEL: Intermediate