The internet - and social media - can be viewed as a razor's edge: on one side, madness, and the other, wonder. Either can be a huge time suck, although the side of madness rarely sees any benefit to those lost deep among teh intertubez. Those on the side of wonder can get lost, too - but they'll usually benefit from interactions and interfacing among people, places, and events that expand their knowledge, awareness, and shared common humanity.
Social media has helped spread the word on many topics, some maddeningly trivial and others in desperate need of our expanded awareness, our participation, our support, our outrage, or our voices.
For those who take time to establish a presence, or to take the time to steadily build their libraries of links and "regular stops" in their quest for knowledge, the efforts pay off: small sites may find themselves growing, good causes may suddenly find audiences, and social issues can benefit from the increased scrutiny and enlightenment of many eyes, often thwarting efforts to quell the issues by those who prefer to limit, control, or oppress.
We've seen people join together to show common cause, raise awareness, and protest injustice in many areas. We've also seen many folks sharing stories of pain, suffering, oppression, history, and cultures. We learn, and share, and grow - rinse, repeat, replenish.
And that's a good thing. It gives more voice to the people - to help counter the propaganda, the hate, and moneyed power that constantly strives to limit the awareness and voice of the public.
The only reason I'm mentioning any of that is that I smiled a little while ago when I saw some stats about a Facebook page...and I want to say "thank you" to those of you who helped make those stats happen.
Yeah, it's Facebook. I know many of you don't bother with it, or won't even contemplate it - and that's fine. It's only one little spot on the internet, and I'm only referring to one infinitesimal spot there. But still - I was glad to see the stats, to know that one small page is getting noticed, and that more people are more aware of it.
Many of you are familiar with the group
Native American Netroots. You may recognize the names of a few members - particularly a few who write (or have written) at length here on Daily Kos, or participate in a few groups:
navajo,
Meteor Blades,
Aji,
Ojibwa - there are a lot more, many who are just as likely to be recognized as the few names I've listed.
navajo - Diva extraordinaire and notorious purveyor of food pr0n, is also well known for her new role as Director of Community Building, among a plethora of other activities.1
She and Meteor Blades were instrumental in the setup of NAN, as well as NAN's off-GOS website and, of course, the Facebook page.
Ojibwa writes informative diaries that touch on history, culture, and religion from and pertaining to Native American perspectives. Aji posts clear essays on social issues and the problems of racism, among other topics. (Due to technical difficulties, she's been unable to post directly to dKos for a while now, but still posts on her blog - and you can also find some great posts on Wings's blog, too.)
They're just a few2 of the folks who write about topics in a way that helps inform and educate - topics that, in my opinion, need to be seen & read by much larger audiences.
All that content is good; it's not only well worth the time spent reading it, it's as potentially transformative inasmuch as it is informative. But not everyone sees it: it's helpful when folks spread the word about it. Enter the world of social media...and, specifically (for the purposes of this diary), Facebook.3
I'm one of the folks who helps put content on the page, and helps spread the word of new NAN-related diaries posted here. Every so often, I'll check the stats - I like to know if the posts are making any sort of impact, or helping to alert folks about the diaries.
The stats I saw tonight were very encouraging: 266 total page likes, and increases of total page reach and views of nearly 700% and more.
Sure, that's not a billion likes, nor were there any new "Likes" this past week. But the engagement - the growth percentage of views - was a kick. When you're dealing with small audiences, it's easy to see huge percentages in what are actually small changes - I know that, and I deal with numbers a lot. But it was simply very nice to see on a night when many of the things I've been doing, I've been left wondering if they've been having any impact.
So, even tho it's relatively miniscule thing, one which many folks aren't likely to even look at 'cuz they avoid FB like the plague, it was a nice thing to see when I needed to see a nice thing.
I'm sometimes simple that way.
So, thank you, to all of you who looked at the page, and let others know about the posts there.
Namaste.
________
Footnotes
__________
1 Speaking of "a plethora of other activities" -
attribution: Papa Monzano & navajo
Saturday, February 28th
Texas All-State Meet-up with Meteor Blades, Denise Oliver-Velez and navajo
Please come for an afternoon of camaraderie and progressive strategizing with Big Orange flavor! Out-of-state attendees welcome!
Lunch and Seminar c/o Daily Kos
TIME: Noon - 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Max's Wine Dive
"Fried Chicken and Champagne... Why the Hell Not?"
207 San Jacinto Blvd • Austin, near convention center
Cocktail time First drink c/o Daily Kos
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: CRAVE
340 E. 2nd St (around the corner from seminar) • Austin
ORGANIZER: Send nomandates a kosmail to attend
2 One writer whose name was not specifically listed,
Denise Oliver-Velez, is a well known & respected front-pager who also writes extensively on the history and issues facing
black Americans, women, and immigrants, in addition to topics of racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc. Check out
She's Beautiful When She's Angry and, if you can, help alert others to watch for it, and encourage them to attend with family & friends. And watch for Dee as you watch, learn, and share.
3 Yes, FB is just one small spot on the social media scene. There's a ton of potential depth and breadth - many ways to disseminate information. I post stuff to FB, I tweet, but I haven't the time & bandwidth to do much beyond that. So, I take my victories where I can...and I invite those who enjoy the content they see to share it where they think it will find an appreciative audience.