Archives for November 2012

Can Social Media Build Peace and Understanding?

My compassion turned to shock after reading the caption of a photo of mourners at the funeral of a child killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza earlier this month. The caption indicated the photo's main subject, an elderly woman wearing a bright blue leopard print head scarf, was making the victory sign as women grieved in the background. When I first saw the photo I assumed she was making the peace sign, perhaps to signal her frustration with the fighting between … [Read more...]

HOW TO: Craft Calls to Action that Overcome Barriers

Why would people ignore your call to action even when you effectively grabbed  their attention and engaged them emotionally? Most often, your messaging failed to provide solutions to barriers stopping them from taking action. There are six common barriers to action: 1. Hard. Your call to action must be perceived as easy to do—either immediately (e.g., "give $15 now without leaving Facebook" versus making people click off to another site to support your … [Read more...]