As women, telling stories comes naturally to most of us. We also know how to get the word out fast. Incorporate social networking and the on-line movement and there's potential for a social change explosion. It seems women are starting to renew our communities and the planet at an extremely rapid pace with the support of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook in addition to women oriented organizations like BlogHer and MomsRising.org.
In pursuit of the next episode of See Jane Do we have been extremely inspired by the incredible women we've met who are taking new media to a new level. As mothers, we were thrilled to meet the "godmother of the on-line movement" (as her staff refers to her), Joan Blades. You know Joan, she is the co-founder of MoveOn.org. She wanted to provide a voice for women in the White House so several years ago she co-founded MomsRising.org. MomsRising has created an on-line movement that is transforming issues often prevalent to women, families and caretakers including; health-care, family leave, fair wages, and childcare. "With over 250,000 members MomsRising is creating change we can see", says staff member and mother Anita Jackson.
I met Anita at the SCHIP celebration in Sacramento. I spotted the MomsRising group in the ballroom immediately as Jackson was bouncing her adorable 4 month old daughter on her lap. MomsRising circulates numerous petitions, one of which was for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), bringing health-care to 11 million children. MomsRising members contributed 135,000 letters to support this program. Jackson was thrilled, "creating change is one click away. MomsRising makes it easy for women to have a voice and make a difference in policy that effects family, children, and caregivers". See Jane Do will feature more on MomsRising in our upcoming episode on March 25th, 2009 on KVMR.
New media is a wonderful way to bring issues concerning women to the table for discussion and action. I recently read about entrepreneur Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and now co-owner of the Washington Mystics who is utilizing Twitter to create the first "Tweet-a-thon" according to the Washington Times. Johnson produced the film A Powerful Noise which highlights the stories of three women who are persevering through severe living environments.
Adrienne Washington reports that during the Tweet-a-thon "NCM Fathom will donate 10 cents for each Tweet - up to 50,000 Tweets - to CARE, which helps 65 million people in 70 countries become self-sufficient but focuses on women and children, who disproportionately suffer from poverty." A Powerful Noise will premiere March 5th in theaters across the nation in celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th.
At See Jane Do we love a good story. We want to the share the stories of everyday extraordinary women we've interviewed with as many people as possible, so... we've been getting friendly with Facebook. According to iStrategy over half of the Facebook users are women. And yes, we've taken to tweeting on twitter.
We're always looking for new friends and followers. How are you using social networks to create positive change? Share with us at [email protected].
Elisa
Thanks for your excellent show today on KVMR. And for this great blog post!
She's Geeky conferences are an example of women doing great things with social media and other Web. 2.0 tools.
Kaliya Hamlin, an award winning tech consultant, organizes this event several times each year to allow women in the tech field (and beyond) to learn from each other.
She and her colleagues, myself included, create wikis from each conference so that we can continue the learning.
Several organizers from the non-profit social justice world presented there on using Web 2.0 tools for social change.
Women are changing the world using social media every day!
Including you!
Great show!
Thanks again,
Marsha Lanier, MSW
415-678-6303
www.spiritbodymind.org
Posted by: Marsha Lanier | March 11, 2009 at 02:16 PM