Amitabh Kumar, Founder of Social Media Matters leads the initiative and recently conducted a workshop with the students of Fateh Chand College for Women, Hisar on 1st September, 2020.
This was an all-female participant group and hence, our idea was to also focus on issues of safety and security on social media spaces. Amitabh began with a quiz round where he asked the participants to share which platforms they are using, what exactly they are doing on the platforms.
It was interesting to note that while some were using social media platforms extensively, some of the participants had never used it even once but was aware of it. The agenda of the workshop was to talk about online campaigning and how to seek support. For this, we provided some background of social media case studies where online spaces were used to escalate the discussion and gather support for a cause.
Amitabh then started a discussion on what are the causes they would like to work upon if given a chance. A list came up with girl child empowerment, education, employment, health facilities etc. This was followed by a step by step guide on what exactly needs to be done if one is planning to run an online campaign. Elements like time, days, platforms, supporters, posts, engagement etc. were discussed. And the girls were asked to think of creating a campaign on these lines.
Next up were the safety controls that every social media user must know of. Few participants were amazed to know that such controls exist to protect your identity, your content and what you are sharing online. The workshop went for about 2 hours and was followed up by queries of the participants. This was a great experience and a great way to bring back the discussion on online safety.
We are happy to connect and conduct the workshops on social media for social change, online safety and online campaigning. Connect with us and let’s get this rolling.