As we found, 52% of participants in protest rallies hear about them online, while 15% hear about them from people they know.
There is no exact data, but we can reasonably assume that “from the internet” and “from acquaintances” are very closely connected. The internet means social media, and on social media we read posts from people we know, find out that they’re going to the march, and decide to go too.
Accordingly, the task of everyone who wants more people to take part in the “Spring” march is to do one simple thing: post about it online and invite people they know.
But the thing is, most of us ignore this simple step because “everyone already knows anyway.” “What’s the point of me posting appeals on my Facebook with 17 friends when everyone reads Alexei Navalny’s Twitter with its million followers? My appeals will look naive, people will leave sarcastic comments, and I’ll feel embarrassed.”
This is an extremely common and extremely wrong point of view. We were reminded of that most recently on December 30, when the sudden rescheduling of the verdict turned out to be a fairly effective tactic. It seemed like “Twitter is flooded, everyone will see it,” but when we later analyzed the situation, we found that huge numbers of people who use the internet every day had no idea the date had been changed.
A lot of people follow me (or other popular accounts), but only check in once a week. Your friends, on the other hand, read you every day, because they want to know whether Kolka liked Masha’s post and whether you’re still following “that bitch” on Instagram.
So, two important things:
Do not, under any circumstances, ignore the opportunity to personally ask people you know to come to the march on March 1. Yakunin is counting on you doing exactly that. At the very least, just post that you’re going.
2. (Most importantly.) We propose trying a new outreach approach that we call “communities.”
We decided to run an experiment and asked some young mothers we know (and really, who should be angrier about the crisis and about Putin personally than they are?) to form a small ~~agitation squad~~ expert group (we said that 3 people would be enough) and come up with the right, appropriate way to talk about the march and its demands on various parenting platforms. Within a few hours, the group Mothers on the March appeared. It started with 19 activists (there are already 31 now — join if you’re a young mother!), and without any help from us they developed an outreach plan for their own platforms, are carrying it out themselves, and are already discussing forming their own column at the march.
The idea is brilliantly simple: mothers should reach mothers, chess players should reach chess players, animal rights activists should reach animal rights activists, and doghunters should reach doghunters (that’s one you definitely don’t want to mix up, of course). We will do our part to build the infrastructure: flyers, pickets, organizing columns at the march itself (we’ll talk about that tomorrow), and you can help us mobilize the communities you identify with.
So,
If you belong to some active local group (based on interests, geography, or profession), and besides you there are at least two other people in your community who share your and our ideas, then you can form your own outreach team.
Create your group on any social network.
Fill out the Google form. After that, we’ll start linking to your group, and people will come to you.
Within the group, develop your own plan for informing your community (posts, news items, banners, personal conversations—whatever works).
Carry it out.
On Thursday or Friday, send us a message with the results, and we’ll tell people about you and your column at the march (if you decide to form one).
You can post links to your groups right in the comments on this post.