Make Like a Bird: Crank Up Your Tweeting

By now, even technology-challenged Americans have heard of Twitter. That's because newspaper articles, "slow Twitter" to the social media literati, regularly quote President Donald Trump's tweets. Often, not as news per se, but as curiosities.

Some say Twitter is passé. Millennials seem to have moved on to social media that allows them to illustrate their shares, generally with photos of themselves making faces at their handheld smart phones. Snapchat now seems to be de rigueur for the younger set, although their loyalties are fickle, consider their move away from Facebook, for example.

Christine Brown's team made social media a key component of the campaign, but the "wave" has been slow to reach its crest. This may be due to the older set, like myself, being something less than swift on the uptake or the touch screen, or arthritic thumbs. There are more young people now taking up the challenge, and that should help.

One way we can all help is to use our Twitter accounts to reinforce OUR message. Here are some examples of tweets I've created (you can find me here: https://twitter.com/Nimasema):

#SeparatingChildren from their parents is immoral and according to #asylum lawyers, is NOT required by law. We have a moral responsibility to counteract this despicable practice by voting out those responsible for creating them as well as their enablers.

@realDonald Trump doesn’t believe consumers need protection from #predatorylenders, #cheatinginsurancecompanies, or any of the other myriad ways struggling American families are taken to the cleaners by #unfairbusinesspractices. I do. That’s why I support a strong #CFPB.

#ClimateChange: April was first month in recorded history with average concentration of atmospheric #CO2 topping 410 ppm. Levels this high haven't been seen on Earth in 3 million yrs, when temperatures were 3.6° to 5.4°F warmer, and sea level was 50 to 80 feet higher than today.

@RepNewhouse says he is "proud" to have voted with #Republicans to pass #HR5895. This bill removes #CleanWaterAct protections for streams, headwaters, wetlands and other water bodies that serves as a drinking water source for 117 million Americans. More manure from Dan.

Democratic Senate Caucus and 3 Republicans voted to restore #netneutrality rules. But Republicans hold a 235-193 advantage in the House, so little chance of a vote to restore. Just another reason to flip the house. We can start by flipping WA4.

According to CBO, the #USdeficit will expand to $804 billion in fiscal 2018, up from $665 billion in fiscal 2017, and the #nationaldebt is on track to approach 100% of GDP by 2028. And Republicans like @RepNewhouse and @cathymcmorris are bragging about it. Incredible!

Remember, your tweets must be a maximum of 280 characters, including punctuation and spaces. Learn to use hashtags effectively, and try to leverage hot topics.

If you have a blog or website, and write about politics, tweet posts from your blog/site.

Get your message out. Make yourself heard!

Tech Day for Socially [Media] Challenged

Tech Day at the Richland Library

Last Sunday dawned bright and sunny and instead of taking a walk in the park, I headed over to the Richland Library for a “Tech Day” designed to help bring the IT-challenged into the age of social media mania. The BCDCC Communications Committee organized the event; DeNomy Dage, Kendall Miller, Micki McKinley, Bonnie, Andy, Jenni, Jessica, Heidi, plus assorted volunteers. We are gratful to them all.

The exercise was meant to help the “resistance” use the power of social media to concentrate forces, and aid in focusing issue activism. Of particular importance was teaching trainees how to set up a Facebook account and follow event planning on sites such as:
Democrats of the Mid-Columbia
Democrats of the 8th Legislative District Washington
Indivisible Washington State 4th Congressional District
Love Not Hate Tri-Cities
March for Science Tri-Cities
Tri-Cities Citizens Climate Lobby

There was also a discussion of how to use Facebook and Twitter to “share” meaningful articles and dialogue, whether in our local Tri-City Herald, in the New York Times, or on the Daily Kos, etc. Any digital site worth reading will provide sharing logos for Facebook and Twitter, as well as Google+ and email. Click on the logo and the article is shared. Check the very bottom of this post and you’ll find those symbols and a few others.

Jessica Gonzales showing how to use Google Docs, with an assist from Kennedy

Jessica did a presentation on Goggle Docs, showing how to create and share documents, as well as how to create Goggle forms, which is useful for a number of things, including collecting information for volunteer organizations and/or events.

Bonnie Kendall, a recent devotee, did a presentation on Twitter and discussed how simple and straightforward it is to craft a quick, but meaningful 140-character message using hashtags (#) and the ‘at’ [@] symbol to share and direct a ‘tweet.’ She suggested “following” at least 20 people/sites, and “lurking” a bit once a Twitter account is set up in order to learn the ropes. You can start by following Bonnie (@BonnieKendall6).

After the presentations and general discussion, help stations were set up, with Mickey McKinley pushing tables all over the room, and one-on-one help was provided to those seeking additional instruction.

It was a great occasion. We should do it again.

Ann Fraser trying to talk her dad, Steve into actually using the Facebook account he set up.