Imagine if 1,000 people were protesting on Parliament Hill today. That would certainly make the news, right? What if it was 40,000? Surely, politicians would be paying attention.
Well 40,000 would be the number of tweets that, in 2012, ridiculed the Conservative government’s proposed amendment to the Criminal Code of Canada: the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.
Don’t be fooled by the name, the bill had nothing to do with internet predators and everything to do with a government bent on getting into our hard drives without a warrant.
If you recall, this was the infamous bill that led Vic Toews to channel George W. Bush and declare that you could either stand with the government or “stand with the child pornographers.”
The bill was widely criticized and it gave birth to one of the funniest twitter hashtags in Canadian history: #tellviceverything. Basically, the twittersphere decided that if Vic Toews really wanted to know everything, it would tell Vic e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g… to the point of over-sharing.
And so Canadians started telling Vic about everything from going over the speed limit to their ovulation calendar. Even MPs joined in. Megan Leslie told Vic about her coffee-less morning due to the milk going bad. Justin Trudeau chimed in about his pressing need to pee.
At its height, the hashtag was used over 40,000 times.
Embarrassed, the government dropped the bill. Under this government, this may be the only bill to have ever been dropped in response to public outcry.
The recent #Idlenomore protests are another great example of the galvanizing force of an idea unleashed on Twitter. As activists, we can add momentum to these causes by spreading the word on Twitter.
These examples and others were discussed last week, during a 2-hour Twitter training session with the UNE’s national equity representatives. The five members are hoping to reach out to a broader audience using social media.
During the training, they were advised to keep an ear out for news shows that ask its audience share their views via twitter; it’s opportunities like these that give anyone the ability to grab the microphone of a major news show.
Many of these programs are increasingly reading tweets live on the air, as a means of engaging with their audience.
Tweets have the benefit of being short, and thus being quick to vet and quick to read. That’s why many news shows, that never had the call-in or talk-radio model, are going to Twitter for their viewer feedback.
Members were also encouraged to use Twitter as a news aggregator; following a dozen major news sites on Twitter means you can easily get all your news in one place. Another great tip is to follow some of your favourite journalists.
Some shameless self-promotion: another benefit of being on Twitter is that you’ll be able to tweet along with us during the UNE2014 convention!
Last year, the number of Canadians on Twitter grew by 80%. Are you part of the Canadians already on Twitter? Let us know in the comments below! Better yet, tweet us your thoughts at @my_UNE.