Communication in modern history
| When great citizens join together to make an impact for our lives and communities, they need to communicate effectively and efficiently. Sometimes they need to get the word out FAST! In the 80s we structured 'phone trees' where every person got a call and notified 5 others, until everyone got the message. We printed up newsletters, licked stamps, and waited a few days. In the 90s we set up answering services with outgoing recordings, containing our latest news. A few of us started using fax machines. As the millennium approached, we got online and marvelled at electronic mail (e-mail) and bulletin boards, chat rooms, news groups, and even our own websites. We got rid of our pagers and bought cellular phones. And in the past 10 years we got rid of our fax machines, pagers, dial-up modems, and even our land lines. We discovered text messages and Twitter. The message boards and newsgroups all started moving to the big social media giants. Our cellphones got a whole lot smarter. |  |
Today's tools of communication For Activist groups
The web continues to evolve at a rapid rate. Yet some stable systems of communication are evident.
The blog website now serves as an essential foundation for group information and communication. There are several free services available. RSS technology is a huge leap forward for getting news to many outlets in a fully automated process.
The blog website now serves as an essential foundation for group information and communication. There are several free services available. RSS technology is a huge leap forward for getting news to many outlets in a fully automated process.
Google has many free communicator tools. We have found many of them to be of great value in activism.
Of all the free blog web services, Blogger (a.k.a. Blogspot) is one of the easiest and yet very powerful. You can create an entire website in your Blogger acct. the RSS feed allows other websites to automate the inclusion of your news. When you incorporate Feedburner tools, it does amazing things. Desktop & mobile app. Free |
This service of Google's is designed to add a lot of flexibility to your blog website. It handles mailing lists, automated daily emailing, and other ways to enhance your message. It creates a box for your website where folks can add their email address to your daily newsletter mass mailing. It can work with any blog service. Free |
This tool creates an answering service and so much more. It can forward calls to several other phone numbers. It can send you an email or text message when a message is left. Campaigns use this to create a virtual corporate phone network. Desktop and free mobile app. Free |
Your meetings and event have a statewide impact. But many of your devoted allies live so far away that they can't possibly attend all your meetings. A Youtube channel can make a great archive of your meetings, and allow your organization to have regular tv programming on Roku. Free |
A Facebook Page is a limited blog. Unlike a Facebook personal account or Facebook Group, these are designed to get news posted, however only from the few who run the page. A Facebook Group is a pace to discuss with a free flow of information. It also limits itself in functions. Neither a page or a group is a real person. you can't be a group's friend or a page's friend. Many blog hosting service have the ability to automatically post a notice on a Facebook page whenever you create a new blog post. Desktop & mobile app. Free |
Twitter is for the mobile activist. It is immediate and gets right to the point. It's not the right platform for a cyber base of operations, but it's a very powerful way to notify folks of breaking news and to drive the masses back to your website blog. Many blog hosting service have the ability to automatically post a notice on a Twitter acct. whenever you create a new blog post. Desktop & mobile app. Free |
Weebly offers free webhosting for your organization. It's a simple interface with pre-designed themes. But Weebly adds a blog feature, included with every website. It's a favorite of this journalist. the service has a phone app and a full-featured desktop editing suite. Desktop & mobile app. Free |
We started SoonerPolitics 2 years ago, to help keep conservatives throughout the state informed. Our free news service has expanded from a single web page, to a 4-section online newspaper, and a Roku Channel. Over 5 dozen bloggers and activist groups are regular columnists on SoonerPolitics.org We keep looking for more sources. Free |
End user tools:
| If you're a part of a grassroots group and you're having a difficult time staying informed, we have some tools for your use.
| Emails -to-Text Message Some folks have completely given up on email. If you want to reach them, the only reliable way is with a text message. The good news is that their mobile phone carrier gave them an email address just for this purpose. But each mobile service has it's own format, so we've included this chart for you to decipher your cell phone's text email address. Top US & Canadian Carriers Alltel: 10digitphonenumber@message.alltel.com AT&T: 10digitphonenumber@txt.att.net Boost Mobile: 10digitphonenumber@myboostmobile.com Cricket: 10digitphonenumber@mms.cricketwireless.net Metro PCS: 10digitphonenumber@mymetropcs.com Sprint: 10digitphonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com T-Mobile: 10digitphonenumber@tmomail.net Tracfone: 10digitphonenumber@txt.att.net US Cellular: 10digitphonenumber@email.uscc.net Verizon: 10digitphonenumber@vtext.com Virgin Mobile: 10digitphonenumber@vmobl.com |
