This is the website of Alex White, in Melbourne Australia, a campaigns and communications professional working in the trade union movement.

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Tag Archives: social networking

Social media and the vulnerability of "old politics"

by admin on 28. Nov, 2009 in Blog, Opinion, Politics

The big difference between the current Liberal Party leadership tensions, and previous ones, is the role that social media such as Twitter and blogs, and “live updates” from SMS, are playing. Journalists in the Canberra press gallery are getting updates from Liberal MPs from inside party room meetings. The updates are “live” – that is, [...]

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Communicate, don’t sell

by admin on 16. Nov, 2009 in Blog, Campaigning

An interesting article from our friends across the ditch, about how to use social networking tools. Don’t act like a salesperson. Interact with your potential members/customers/voters in order to build a relationship with them. Andrea Mitchell writes: Obama’s campaign sure got it right through social media. As Obama adviser Scott Goodstein said: “Some people only [...]

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Best practice use of Facebook for unions

by admin on 22. Oct, 2009 in Blog, Campaigning

Many unions now have a presence on Facebook. However, I am aware of only a few unions that make full use of Facebook’s many tools. 1. Use Fan Pages, not groups When Facebook first got started, it didn’t have Pages. Instead, users created groups, which allowed people to join, and for administrators to “email” members. [...]

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Interesting use of Twitter in elections

by admin on 17. Sep, 2009 in Blog, Elections, Opinion

Via Joe Trippi, the site Tech President reports that the New York City Democratic Primary made heavy and (in some cases) innovative uses of Twitter. Joe asked in his tweet whether Twitter will be used to predict the outcomes of elections and primaries. For example, the initial winner of the NYC primary, Bill DiBlasio, had [...]

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Three more Twitter tips for trade unions

by admin on 30. Aug, 2009 in Blog, Campaigning

As Twitter has grown larger and faster, more and more unions are starting Twitter accounts. On the one hand, this is a good sign. Unions should exploit social media and tools such as Twitter. On the other hand, many unions are not following the basic rules of social media, or are not following Twitter etiquette. [...]

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Why the Save VCA campaign is a great case study

Why the Save VCA campaign is a great case study

by admin on 26. Aug, 2009 in Blog, Campaigning

The Save VCA campaign a few moments ago reached 10,000 Facebook fans. In less than a fortnight, over 5,000 people have signed the paper Save VCA petition. Over 1,000 people attended a rally with Geoffrey Rush as a speaker, after a week of flashmobs and other semi-spontaneous artistic performances. Earlier this week, the Save VCA [...]

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A creative manifesto

by admin on 25. Aug, 2009 in Blog, Opinion

Every good cause has a manifesto these days. Here’s the Creative Unions manifesto – the new social venture started by Atosha and myself to promote powerful union design and communications. Check it out. Let us know what you think. Send us a tweet @creativeunions or visit our Creative Unions Facebook page.

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Seven ways for unions to use Twitter

by admin on 04. Aug, 2009 in Campaigning

Twitter is definitely one of the new cool things on the Internet – the epitome of “Web 2.0″. Unions have traditionally been slow in their uptake of new technology. A quick survey of many union websites show that they are seriously out of date (technology wise, if not their content). Many union leaders and officials [...]

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Online social activism and Twitter

by admin on 13. Jun, 2009 in Blog, Campaigning, Industrial Relations

A large part of my job is online communications: blogs, social networking, and new fads like Twitter. A big challenge is how to use these tools in a meaningful way to support the campaigning and organising activities of the union. How can we engage our members and supporters using the social networking tools they are [...]

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