Social Media and Social Action (SMSA)

by Ellen Middaugh  (ChAD) & Mark Felton (TED)

Welcome! Our names are Ellen Middaugh (ChAD) and Mark Felton (TED). We have been collaborating to conduct research on how young adults use social media to learn about, discuss and act on social issues. Based on this work, we designed the course ChAD 156: Social Media & Youth Civic Engagement to teach undergraduate students about the role of social media in youth civic identity development as well as to teach them skills of being more thoughtful and informed users of social media for social action. 

This module provides and abbreviated overview of the topics addressed in that class through the lens of the issue of climate change. 

The learning objectives of this module are:

1. Students will gain knowledge about the factors that support youth civic engagement and the role of social media in that process. 
2. Students will critically reflect on their own use of social media for inquiry, dialogue and action. 
3. Students will learn about and practice skills of inquiry (fact checking), dialogue, and action through social media. 

Instructors can use the entire module (recommended) or pick and choose topics and activities as relevant to the course. 

To complete this portion of the module, student will: 

• Watch the introductory video 

• Have students engage in the "Exploring climate change" activity. 
• Have students engage in the activity, "Looking for patterns in how people talk about climate change on social media"

Readings and video to support this module include:  

• World's Apart: A story of three possible worlds: [Linked Here]
• TED Talk by Xiye Bastida, Climate Activist:  [Watch Here]
• Readings on youth civic engagement and social media
  
  • • Adler, R. & Goggin, J. (2005). What do we mean by civic engagement? Journal of Transformative Education, 3(3), 236-40. [Linked Here]
    • Soep, L. (2014). Participatory politics: Next generation tactics to remake public spheres. Cambridge: MIT Press., p. 1-3 & 9-14 [Linked Here] [pdf]
• Slides used in the video lecture are available here.

• Exploring Climate Change Activity

  • Exploring Climate Change

    The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been convening scientists to come to consensus about the causes, effects and solutions to climate change. In a recent report, they shared information about what we can expect to happen to the planet and to people if the world in three scenarios: 1) Late, uncoordinated action, 2) Delayed, decisive action, and 3) Early, effective action. 

    In order to begin familiarizing yourself with this issue, please review the information presented in this infographic report by the IPCC: 

    [Linked Here]

    On your own or in discussion with peers, answer the following questions. 

    - What does the report identify as a major cause of global warming?

    - What are some of the negative outcomes they identify as being likely to happen in the scenario of late, uncoordinated action?

    - What are some of the changes that they identify being made in the "Early, effective action" scenario that should lead to better outcomes?

     

• Looking for patterns in how people talk about climate change on social media

  • Looking for patterns in how people talk about climate change on social media

    1 - Form Groups (1-4) 

    2 - Go to the website 

    3 - Go to your group number page and review the social media posts on that page. Discuss with your group:

              - How is language being used to frame the issue?

              - What issue(s) are highlighted?

              - What emotions are being expressed?

    4 - Report out in whole class discussion or, if online, by reviewing other group posts to consider what some of the similarities and differences are by group. 

• SMSA Part 1: Inquiry

  • Inquiry: Gaining a deeper understanding of your issue. 

    The best forms of civic action begin with curiosity and discovery and involve using information to make choices about the best course of action. In the case of climate change, we need scientific information about the causes and promising solutions for climate change. We also need political information to understand what is currently being done through policy, what is not, and why. Finally, we need human stories to understand how people experience climate change and why they may or may not support efforts to address it. 

    In this section, we focus on a few key concepts when it comes to getting information through social media:

    1. Curation: When we rely on social media to deliver information to us, who we follow is crucially important. 
    2. Search Terms: Politicized issues are frequently discussed using very different terms depending on political perspective. Climate change is no exception. Learning to use varied search terms can help us understand how an issue is being discussed from multiple perspectives. 
    3. Algorithms: An important way that social media platforms keep us engaged is through algorithms that notice when we pause, what we click on, what we like or share, and what our contacts are paying attention to. These algorithms customize our feeds to be more interesting to us. That can be useful in some ways but it also narrows the information we see. 
    4. Fact Checking: Most of us have heard the term "fake news" and have been made aware that false information can be spread through social media. However, many of the strategies we learn in school are difficult to apply when we are sorting through feeds and making quick judgments. Emerging strategies such as curation (tailoring feeds for certain purposes), lateral validation (checking information independently) and use of fact checking sites can be useful. 

    To complete this part of the module, students will:

    - Watch the video lecture on inquiry.

    - Engage in the Climate Change Fact Checking Activity

     

    Readings and videos to support this section include: 

    - Noble, S.U. (2014). How biased are our algorithms ? (12 minute TEDx video)

    - Kiely, E. & Robertson, L. (2016). How to spot fake news . Factcheck.org.

    - Slides used in the video lecture are available here.

• Fact Checking Climate Change Posts

  • Fact checking information about climate change

    This can be done individually, or in groups

    1 - Applying judgment to social media posts about climate change. In the video lecture, we discussed two strategies for applying judgment to posts about climate change. The CRAAP test and lateral validation. For the first part of this activity, you will find examples of posts about climate change, and review the post for the following:

    CRAAP Test. Is the information: 

    - Current, can you tell when the information being shared was gathered?

    - Relevant to the issue of climate change? 

    - Accurate, can you tell how they got their information?

    - Authority, what can you tell about the person or organization that is sharing this information? Do they have expertise?

    - Purpose, what is the post trying to get you to think or believe? 

     

    Lateral validation: 

    - What claim is the post making?

    - Conduct a separate search in a search engine (like Google) for that claim. What do the results suggest? 

     

    2 - Using fact-checking sites to understand common misconceptions. Go to Snopes.com and Climatefeeback.org

    - Go to the "About" section of each site to learn more about who is part of the team fact-checking information and what their qualifications are. Pick a site to use for your fact checking and explain why you chose that site. 

    - Choose an example of mis/disinformation about climate change explained on the site of your choice (Snopes or Climatefeedback) and explain what the original claim was and why it is either incorrect or misleading. 

     

• SMSA Part 2: Dialogue

  • Dialogue

    Dialogue with others is crucial for deepening our own understanding of issues like climate change, and it also helps us connect with others who may help us act. Furthermore, the simple act of sharing information with others is an important component of education about climate change. When it comes to dialogue on social media, however, many people worry (with good reason) that things may escalate and become hostile or unproductive. 

    In this section, we provide a brief overview of the different purposes of dialogue and suggest an activity for encouraging students to think critically about how to use social media for dialogue about social action. 

    Key concepts include:

    1. Different purposes of dialogue: There are many reasons to talk about social issues with people. Sometimes we want to learn new information. Sometimes we want to try to persuade someone to pay attention or change their view. Sometimes we want to find people who agree with us. Being clear about what kind of dialogue you are looking for can help make it more meaningful.
    2. Productive engagement: Whether our aim is to explore, persuade or decide, productive civic dialogue involves authentic engagement with others. To achieve these, we must hone our skills for exploring, challenging and coalescing ideas. While we may walk away from productive dialogue still disagreeing with others, ideally, we will learn from the process of engagement.
    3. Deliberation is a form of civic dialogue that aims at deciding on a personal or collective action. Unlike debate, where the goal is to defend your conclusions, deliberation aims to arrive at a decision about what to do through careful consideration of alternatives.
    4. Platform differences: Social media platforms have very different features that are important for what kind of dialogue you can hope to have. Choosing your platform and community is a critical component of deciding how to engage in dialogue. 

    Lesson Overview:

    - See Instructor's Overview 

    To complete this part of the module, students will:

    - Watch a video lecture on civic dialogue and deliberation

    - Engage in a deliberative dialogue about climate action [Download Here] [pdf]

    - Engage in an activity analyzing productive dialogue on social media [Download Here] [pdf]

     

    Readings and videos to support this section include: 

    - Chen, A. (2015, Nov. 15). Unfollow: How a prized daughter of the Westboro Baptist church came to question it’s beliefs. New Yorker. [Linked Here] [pdf]

    - Sundheim, D (2020, June 11). How to have productive dialogue on challenging topics. Forbes. [Linked Here] [pdf]

    - James, C., & Cotnam-Kappel, M. (2020). Doubtful dialogue: how youth navigate the draw (and drawbacks) of online political dialogue. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(2), 129-150. [Linked Here] [pdf]

     

• SMSA Part 3: Action

  • Taking Action! 

    When it comes to acting to address any civic issue, but especially climate change, social media is recognized as a crucial tool for persuading other to change their habits, to encourage them to vote in certain ways or to put pressure on global corporations to change their practices. However, posting, sharing or commenting is only as powerful as your theory of action. There is no need to be a one-person climate solution--we all do as much as we can. But knowing how to use your social media effectively can increase the impact of your small actions. 

    Key concepts in this section include:

    1. Theory of action: Creating an internal model of what change is needed and what levers will lead to that change can help guide your daily actions.
    2. Social movement organizations (SMOS): There is no need to reinvent the wheel. In fact, if we have too many people individually moving in different directions, we won't get very far. When you take on a cause, it's helpful to know what organizations or movements are already working on it that you can join in and contribute to. 
    3. Mobilization: One thing that social media is particularly useful for is mobilizing our networks to take action. That may mean raising money, getting people to turn out to a protest, asking them to sign a petition, encouraging a boycott or buycott, or getting out the vote for a certain candidate or proposition, among other actions. 
    4. Framing: The language we use to discuss an issue is just as important as the evidence we use to persuade people. Social media is a great way to introduce new ideas or new frames. 

    In this part of the module, students will:

    - Watch the video lecture

    - Complete the activity, Engaging in Action to Address Climate Change. 

     

    Readings to support this section include:

    - Pinon, N. (2019). How to ensure your online activism has an offline impact. Mashable interview with authors of #Activism. [Linked Here]

    - Sweetland, J. & Shore, R. (n.d.). Reframing issues in the digital age: Using social media strategically. Nonprofit Quarterly. [Linked Here]

    - Slides from the instructor video are available here. 

• Engaging in Action to Address Climate Change

  • Engaging in Action to Address Climate Change

    Following the Dialogue Activity, students will be asked to go back to drawdown.org and choose a solution to advocate for using one of four options: 

    1. Education and awareness raising. Using social media to make friends and family aware,
    2. Advocacy--organizing people to pressure an official (elected, corporate, etc) to change their practices, or
    3. Material support -- fund raising or resource gathering in line with the policy, or
    4. Volunteering with an organization that is addressing climate change. 

    Students will complete a reflection (written or oral) explaining the following:

    1. What kind of action did you take? Please provide a picture or video that shows your action (for example a social media post, a funding raising message or petition, a letter to a candidate, a picture of your volunteer experience, etc.)
    2. Why did you choose that action?  How does this action address one of the root causes of climate change?
    3. What do you think your action accomplished? 
    4. What would you want to do to in the future to increase your impact on climate change?