Cyber Warriors Needed for Japan Dolphin Day 2012

August 31, 2012 by Holise E Cleveland Ⅲ

The Cove (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

If you are unable to attend one to the rallies around the world, don’t fret. You can do some amazing things here on the web to support those who are in the field.

In protest of the massacres in Taiji, Japan (as depicted in the award-winning film The Cove) there will be compassionate people demonstrating at Japanese consulates and embassies throughout the globe. Thousands upon thousands of vehicles and pedestrians will be passing by these events and many of them will be on Twitter. That’s where you come in! I will show you how to connect with the passers-by and significantly contribute to raising awareness for our cause.

Don’t have Twitter? What can I say? If you want to reach people and raise awareness, you need to be on Twitter. Facebook is a wonderful place for hanging out with fellow activists and gathering petition signatures, but you are not going to enlighten the world by sharing the same old news with the same old people. If you are elderly and set in your ways, then I can understand your reluctance to branch out. If you have a mental disorder that causes you to fear Twitter, then you have a good reason to stay in your social club and never leave. On the other hand, if you really want to make a difference, then it’s time to get out of your comfort zone and make some noise!

For those of you who are already familiar with Twitter, here is what you can do:

Research the geographical location of the rally nearest you. I have rallied in Boston a couple of times, so I am somewhat familiar with the area. I will therefore use the Japanese consulate in Boston as my example here.

Find the address of the consulate or embassy on Google maps. (See Example here)
Take notes: Open Notepad or Wordpad and save a new document to your desktop.
Make note of all businesses in the area.
Find those businesses online and save the link to their website.
Start a list on Twitter (List #1) and add those business Twitter accounts to that list.
Make note of all landmarks and the street intersection.
Find the event for that area via Save Misty the Dolphin.
Post to the city’s event page that you want to know who will be tweeting from the event and you would like to add them to a list (List #2). You can have them reply to you there on Facebook or ask them to tweet to you with something like, “I am at the Boston protest.”
Create List #2 and add yourself to it.

Open Tweetdeck, HootSuite or whatever you prefer. You will have a number of columns to work with and will create them based on the notes you took above. From being in Boston, I know that the Japanese consulate is next to South Station and a few blocks from Boston’s China Town. It is also not far from the aquarium. The first few columns are obvious. The others will be for search term results.

Japanese Consulate Boston – 05NOV2010
Photo by Jessica Vasale

Columns:

Your @Mentions
Your DM Direct Messages
List #1
List #2
Search “Boston protest”
Search “Boston ppl signs”
Search “Starbucks protest”
Search “South Station protest”
Search “Boston China Town protest”
Search “Fed Reserve protest”
Search “Atlantic Av protest”
Search “Boston dolphin signs”
Search “Boston China Town”
Search “Boston Aquarium”
Search “#Boston”

The possible search term combinations are numerable and will depend on your knowledge of the area and your imagination. The results will be that you can see people tweeting about the event as they pass by. For example, someone may tweet,

“Bunch of protesters by South Station with dolphin signs. What’s that about? #Boston“

That’s your cue! Send them a tweet something like this:

Why the dolphin protest? Ben Stiller n Woody Harrelson can explain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8JC_239vnc&feature=plcp

No one can resist watching this all-star cast PSA about The Cove. They will watch it to the very end. When they have done so, they may or may not respond. It is important that you do not engage in an altercation or squabble. You have more important things to do. Some people will respond with a simple “Thank you.” Some will follow you and you should follow them back. Some of them will engage in conversation with you and want to know more. (Please be sure to “Favorite” those tweets.) When this happens, you may want to send them a link to The Cove trailer or The Cove Movie Extended Clip – Captivity. You can also send them to Save Misty the Dolphin on Facebook where they can connect with others and learn more.

There are a couple of things to consider here. You will have to sift through the search results to determine which tweets are pertinent. You may even want to tweak the search terms a bit. Also please keep in mind that you do not want to harass these people. Send them the initial tweet and move on. Leave it to them if they want to respond. Everything on Twitter, except for Direct Messages, is open to public discussion. That is the point of Twitter. Anyone can conduct a search on a particular subject and engage in conversation. That’s how Twitter is built. So if someone comes back and says that you are spamming them, relax. They are obviously ignorant of the fact that their comments are open for the world to see and they are clueless about the concept of Twitter. Just move on and keep spreading awareness.

When this is all over, please visit Cyber Whale Warriors on Facebook and share your success stories along with links to the tweets that you marked as favorites. The world needs more warriors like you and you can be an inspiration to others.