Synopses & Reviews
The development of the social web--the set of digital tools that allow people to connect with one another and share their stories—offers extraordinary potential to change what voices get heard in the global conversation. This is unlike anything the world has seen in a thousand years. Change agents working to make the world a better place need not just to be on board with social media--we also need to drive and shape the conversation. Because whoever’s story gets heard is in the driver’s seat.
Share This! explains the importance of social media as a part of an overall ecosystem of tools for change, and examines how broader participation by marginalized voices can foster opportunity on both the individual and collective levels. Tech-savant Zandt devotes special attention to the challenges that women face, including concerns about privacy, security and reputation, and includes interviews with Shireen Mitchell, Danah Boyd, Cheryl Contee, Beka Economopoulos, and other social media experts who work within specific communities addressing race, class, and gender disparities. In a voice both authoritative and irreverent Zandt provides an accessible guide to what the social networking tools are, how woman and minorities can use them strategically, where on the web readers can directly experience their power, and why these technologies are so critical to transforming our daily lives.
Review
"...This book is recommended for all interested in using web 2.0 for their social activism."
-Caroline Geck, Library Journal
"If you are an activist or a concerned citizen and you are new to social media, start with Share This! Deanna Zandt has deep knowledge, broad experience, a knack for clear and simple explanation, a talent for storytelling, and a wonderfully engaging voice."
–Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs and lecturer, University of California Berkeley and Stanford University
"When Deanna Zandt writes that sharing is daring, she expresses the logic of the age, where a shift from hoarding to sharing can provide incredible social leverage. Think of 'Share This' as a manifesto for social engagement, and as a manual for positive change."
–Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody and faculty member, Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University
Review
"If you are an activist or a concerned citizen and you are new to social media, start with Share This! Deanna Zandt has deep knowledge, broad experience, a knack for clear and simple explanation, a talent for storytelling, and a wonderfully engaging voice."
–Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs and lecturer, University of California Berkeley and Stanford University
Synopsis
Social networks can be so much more than a way to find your high school friends or learn what your favorite celebrity had for breakfast. They can be powerful tools for changing the world. With Share This both regular folks of a progressive bent and committed activists can learn how to go beyond swapping movie reviews and vacation photos (not that there's anything wrong with that).
At the moment the same kinds of people who dominate the dialog off-line are dominating it online, and things will never change if that doesn't change. Progressives need to get on social networks and share their stories, join conversations, connect with others--and not just others exactly like themselves. It's vital to reach out across all those ethnic/gender/preference/class/age lines that exist even within the progressive camp. As Deanna Zandt puts it, "creating a just society is sort of like the evolution of the species--if you have a bunch of the same DNA mixing together the species mutates poorly and eventually dies off."
But there are definitely dos and don'ts. Zandt delves into exactly what people are and are not looking for in online exchanges. How to be a good guest. What to share. Why authenticity is more important than just about anything, including traditional notions of expertise or authority. She addresses some common fears, like worrying about giving too much about yourself away, blurring the lines between your professional and personal life, or getting buried under a steaming heap of information overload. And she offers detailed, nuts-and bolts "how to get started" advice for both individuals and organizations.
The Internet is upending hierarchies and freeing the flow of information in a way that makes the invention of the printing press seem like an historical footnote. Share This shows how to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to make marginalized voices heard and support real, fundamental change--and, incidentally, have some fun doing it.
About the Author
Deanna Zandt is a media technologist and consultant to key progressive media organizations including AlterNet and Jim Hightower's Hightower Lowdown, and hosts TechGrrl Tips on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. She specializes in social media, and is an expert in women and technology. Zandt works with groups to create and implement effective web strategies toward organizational goals of civic engagement and empowerment, and uses her background in linguistics, advertising, telecommunications and finance to complement her technical expertise. She has spoken at a number of conferences, including the National Conference on Media Reform, Bioneers, America's Future Now (formerly "Take Back America,") Women Action & The Media, and provides beginner and advanced workshops both online and in person. In January 2009, Deanna was chosen as a fellow for the Progressive Women's Voices program at the Women's Media Center. She also serves as a technology advisor to a number of organizations, including Feministing, The Girls & Boys Projects and Women Action & The Media.