EN :: minguo.info - democracy for the world

The Twitter #BringBackOurGirls is still going strong, but now we need to move to the next stage: get organized and actually do something significant.

The goal is not to give ourselves good conscience, but to actually do something that would lead to the release of the poor girls. It's easy to tweet #BringBackOurGirls. The question is: how many of us are willing to step out and do something.

The rough action plan on Twitter is thus:

1- publicize @bringGirlsBack

Follow the twitter channel @BringGirlsBack. The account has been create to serve and to help; to gather and to spread information.
The number of followers serves as a rough head count.

Retweet our tweets: your retweets are important. They bring attention to the channel and help get other people on board.

2- Headcount

As individuals, we may not be wealthy, we may not have power, we may not be high elected officials... Our only strength lies in our number. The head count mentioned above is an important morale booster. Let's not dismiss it.

But following the channel @BringGirlsBack does not cost much and does not give much either. The next head count we must then proceed with is: who is willing to do what? Who is willing to sacrifice some of their free time, etc? People are already starting to come up asking the right kind of question: "What else can I do?" "How can I help more?"

We'll soon be completing this wiki with a list of possible action items: we'll see then who resonates with what.

We need your help to edit this wiki (I am currently doing it all alone - my time and energy is limited). We need a strong, well documented wiki in order to properly organize the efforts of hundreds/thousands of persons. Volunteers are welcome now!

3- What Twitter is good at

Let's remember what Twitter really is: it is a social network. Use it to connect to people. Directly reach out to people whom you know and who know you. Check your list of followers (however little it may be) and kindly ask your followers: "would you be willing to help a little?"

But let's remember our real life social network: your family, our friends, our neighbours, our co-workers, etc. They may not be on Twitter: it's not a reason to discount the help they may be willing to provide.

Send personal messages

Often, a short personal message to one acquaintance is worth more than flooding the network with random requests. Here we have an example of a Twitter user going through his contact list and sending to each of his followers a personalized message with a plea for help. A good example is this one: "you helped me find a lost dog that one time. Please help me find 234 real human beings. @BringGirlsBack #BringBackOurGirls".

4- Moving beyond Twitter

All of the above are the preliminaries. It won't yet directly impact the girls whom we are seeking to help. To actually make a difference, we need to move beyond Twitter. We need to take action to the real world: organise marches, write letters, etc. Help us brainstorm ideas then help us organize it all into the wiki and let people come forward and volunteer for what they want.