Building a Cohesive Group & Inclusive Culture
Hi Beautiful Humans of #WeAreTwitter!
I think this group could really grow some legs, but it's going to take work. Two reasons for my optimism: 1) The strategizing session at the #PlatformCoop conference last weekend, & 2) @BonnieOWong's recent proposal to organize from the bottom-up and organize those Twitter-users feeling even less safe than before post-Trump election.
If we're not just blowing steam on one mad rush to buy twitter, I believe it critical that we turn a critical and thorough eye to group culture and formation. Bonnie also mentioned some group formation strategies that you'll also see quoted below; and I'm going to start off with a proposal asking people's relative commitment levels. I think it may also be prudent that we go through the (always amusingly challenging) decision-making process of choosing a name collectively.
Some strategy points I want to amplify from Bonnie:
- I would intentionally and actively seek out/recruit people who have a better idea of sub-communities within Twitter, like black people, women, people from the LGBTQ community, aboriginal communities and others that I've missed >- I would find someone to lead a group that specifically addresses the hate issues on Twitter >- I would recruit people to lead the conversations on functional areas, such as campaigns/community management, M&A/capital raising, a team specifically to engage with current Twitter leadership, a team specifically to engage with major Twitter shareholders, a team specifically to engage with Twitter staff, a team just focused on revenue generation. >- For each of these teams have at least two co-leaders, hopefully with shared vision, but enough differences in perspectives to ensure bases are covered >- I would establish a means of communication - a weekly debrief and way of distributing actions >- Goals would be set collectively - small and achievable so that each week we could experience progress
in case it helps for people to assess commitment, here are
Current #WeAreTwitter Initiatives
1) couple folks are working on Livestream Panel initiative e.g. @maira & @carbonpenguin [coordinating loomio-thread]
2) forming a Platform Acquisition Co-op sub-group to look more primarily at the goal of forming an institution by which to purchase Twitter or another somesuch "death star"/ substantial p2p media platform, initiated by @samtoland here: [coordinating loomio-thread
and perhaps most interestingly,
3) @bonnieowong 's suggestion that we begin to organize in solidarity with the groups who receive the worst effects of TWTR's unfettered bullying & harrassment culture. This dialogue is currently in #talkingshop for now, but I hope that a Loomio thread is soon begun/ recycled to at least work towards building a culture of diversity, inclusion, as well as access and ownership (or perhaps this channel will begin to serve this way...)
4) #WeAreTwitter Petition [coordinating slack-channel]
you can edit this list of initiatives by hitting the "edit" button just under the title of this thread :) Please add any initiatives you're aware of!
Mark Latham
Thu 24 Nov 2016 6:50PM
Excited about helping to create or buy a platform co-op of some kind, that could eventually create or buy a social/political platform like Twitter! Semi-retired, so my availability is flexible. I tend to work in bursts. BTW mostly offline Nov25-Dec5.
Priscilla Grim
Thu 24 Nov 2016 9:02PM
My current commitment level is high -- but I am questioning the intentions of putting this to a vote during a busy family holiday weekend.
Sophie Jerram
Thu 24 Nov 2016 10:55PM
I love the ethos and intention and am willing to contribute some capital. I have very limited time to initiate but can support the campaigning.
Lani Dodds
Fri 25 Nov 2016 3:13AM
I'm keen to get involved and help in some capacity.
Rosen Dimov
Fri 25 Nov 2016 4:07AM
7 to 10 h/week
Katharina Simon
Fri 25 Nov 2016 3:08PM
I would love to put some effort into it I just have no time/ energy left, november is the busiest month at my workplace, it will be better mid/ end december again I hope.
john gierynTue 15 Nov 2016 7:14PM
@haileycooperrider - you're the one person I know who isn't in the Slack- so I thought I'd ping you here. Hope you're swell!
Alanna IrvingThu 17 Nov 2016 1:29AM
@markkelleher you can change your block by clicking on "change your position" by your name on the list under the pie chart.
john gierynThu 17 Nov 2016 8:03PM
+1 @sureshf — sound thoughts.
I'd love to hear from @ntnsndr @johnnyhaeusler @trizcs @thomaseuler1 @tommcdonough @samtoland @matthewcropp @mairasutton @chriscook1 @kirstenlambertsen @priscillagrim who I know have been putting in effort recently, and also from some folks who put on some greatly appreciated & needed energy early on: @whit537 @bonniefoleywong (← who i know is unavailable w/ book release for next month, but interested still) @arminsteuernagel1 @njyo @timothyamcdonald
Wolfgang MaehrFri 18 Nov 2016 3:47AM
To be frank, what I have been struggling with, is our approach, which seems somewhat haphazard and un-coordinated. Maybe I find the structure too flat, everybody doing whatever they can but also think relevant. There are a few people that direct things more, but there seems to be little overall coordinated approach.
I like the suggestion above, but I think we need to build up a more detailed war plan.
john gierynFri 18 Nov 2016 12:58PM
I'm feeling a teleconference coming on with the good energy I'm feeling in here...
@alanna I'm curious if you'd be willing to participate in the gov & ops panel that @matthewcropp, @mairasutton and I are looking to set up? I'm curious also about our strategy (in those) with doing a financial/ co-op conversions themed one before gov & ops... Alanna- I'll tag you in that thread with this (probably) easier question.
@njyo I feel you; I'm hoping that this thread will identify a nice core group who can quickly smash out some structure, especially with the sub-group proposal that passed via @samtoland. What I'm liking is that this group seems action-oriented, which is a nice thing to bring to the table that not all the other coalition-building efforts in platform co-op space are doing so much, that I've seen.
Stephanie Jo KentFri 25 Nov 2016 8:52PM
Hmm. I would have voted AGREE but I'm late to this proposal.
This is an inspired and brilliant idea & effort. The suggestions from @coopchange attributed to @bonniefoleywong are spot on.
Mostly I'm good for some publicity (tweeting/retweeting) although I could imagine a more involved facilitating role of a subgroup, perhaps. What happened with the interview? I'm only sporadically following but could be more attentive and participatory....
Stuart Shatles ·Tue 15 Nov 2016 7:04PM
The easier and more practical way to go about this. Is for us to buy stock in the company. There are about 313 million Twitter users. A single share is about $22. If even a 1/3 of users bought stock we could control the company.