Using Social Media To Facilitate Meaningful Conversations

As a Social Media Intern at the Bahá'í International Community’s UN Office, I have participated in the early stages of developing a new webpage focused on gender equality. The webpage will experiment with new formats of informing and engaging audiences in the discourse on advancing the equality of women and women, importance of men's involvement and encouragement, and the transformative effects that women's empowerment can have on economic, political and social advancement.

Using social media to facilitate meaningful conversations among institutions and grassroots movements has required a lot of brainstorming, and I am sure it will require even more experimentation by the Bahá'í International Community and the worldwide Bahá'í community in the future. The most important lesson I have learned is that whatever social media is used—whether a blog, an online discussion, or newsfeeds of stories from around the world and from NGOs at the U.N.—the purpose should be to inspire meaningful interactions. Social media is most useful as a forum of exchange among people and organizations already involved in the process of social change, and the outcome of engagement in social media forums will hopefully be the translation of ideas, conversations and reflections into concrete action.