The use of Web 2.0 Tools by the Childrens Rights Alliance By Róisín Fitzgerald Communications Officer Childrens Rights Alliance (Ireland)

Outline What is the Childrens Rights Alliance? The importance of social media for the Childrens Rights Alliance Examples of how we uses web tools for public relations

The Childrens Rights Alliance A coalition of over 90 member organisations who represent all leading NGOs concerned with children in Ireland Set up in 1993 following Irelands ratification of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Established as the NGO voice to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Our vision is to make Ireland will be one of the best places in the world to be a child Our mission is to realise the rights of children in Ireland through securing the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Recognised Social Partner with Government

Why is Social Media so important? Word of mouth to word of mouse, to world of mouse. Accessible to the majority of the population Direct access to your audience Two-way platform. Mainstream journalism has embraced web 2.0 technology. News Feeds Videos, reports, audio, podcasts, text etc. uploaded to website. RSS Feeds, Like this or Tweet this. ITV Presenters – Twitter Address on screen

Social Media Facts & Figures More than 600 million active users worldwide As of January 2011, (Goldman Sachs) Ranked the most used social network service by worldwide monthly active users (Compete.com study Jan 2009) Most popular social networking site in the United Kingdom. (Facebook is UK's biggest networking site". The Daily Telegraph (London) April 30, 2008) Internet market penetration of 57% in Europe (McCarthy, Caroline (July 21, 2010). "Who will be Facebook's next 500 million?". c (New York). In 2010 the Queen of England joined Facebook

Social Media Facts & Figures 105,779,710 registered users 180 million unique visitors per month 37% of active users use Twitter on their phones **These figures relate to 2010 (Twitter: All the Numbers That Matter- Mathew Ingram Apr. 14, GigaOm) Irish Government Leadership Challenge – Official result by tweet Red Cross & Haiti based mobile phone companies sent 2.1m public health SMS ahead of Cholera epidemic resulting in 10s of 1,000s of lives being saved. Twitter Mass SMS

How to use Social Media Effectively Relevant Content Engagement Different Audiences on Different Sites Tweet with personality Turn followers/friends into advocates. Two way function –Source of news & outlet for your news Tool to build relationships Video is the most powerful tool to create emotion. People use YouTube to 1)- Be educated 2)- Be informed 3)- Be entertained Build a community - not just a list of contacts

How the Alliance uses Web 2.0 Technology Website Facebook Twitter Blog Podcasts YouTube iTunes E-newsletter

Website Primary Functions Primary source of information on the internet. Central to all other web tools.

Facebook Primary Functions Send direct messages to audiences Upload photographs Facility for longer messages Publicise Media Coverage Alert to new content on other sites

Facebook

Twitter Primary Functions Instant delivery of messages Link to News outlets, journalists & politicians Inform about press releases Spread news relevant to Alliance Alert to new content on other sites

Twitter Audience is mainly made up of media outlets, journalists, politicians, social commentators and member organisations. They want news lines, links to press releases, links to publication Retweets: Spreading the word to new Direct delivery – avenue for media coverage – build relationships & brand Hash tag e.g. #ReportCard2011

Twitter Potential Audience 1 Tweet 300 Alliance Followers Retweeted by Follower 1 Retweeted by Follower 2 Retweeted by Follower 3 Retweeted by Follower 4 Retweeted by Follower 5 Reaches all their followers

Twitter

Blog Primary Function Outlet for detailed article

Podcast Primary Function To reach new audiences using audio - interesting interviews that are available on website and via iTunes

YouTube Primary Function Alliance Videos to be available on largest video sharing website

iTunes Primary Function To provide facility for audience to download podcasts to their media players (get new ones automatically)

eNewsletter Primary Functions Provide updates & information To members, friends, funders etc.

Final Tips It is very important to interlink your various Your website should have links to all your social media Your signature should have links to your social media Always drive people to your own website (not external ones) from Facebook & Twitter Draw up a social media policy to avoid misuse of your site i.e. Defamatory, racist, incitement comments, external links Always remember that what you post on twitter/facebook/blog/youtube is seen as public content and so can be used by media etc. Dont tweet something that you wouldnt be happy seeing on in a newspaper article or on a TV report. Measure your social media success with Facebook Weekly updates, twitter stats, google blog search,

Where to find the Childrens Rights Alliance

Thank you