Call Summary on Digital Outreach

Workspaces Community Outreach & Coordination
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Filip and me just had our first call on determining the best way for us to work productively on the outreach part.

Plan is for now:

  • @anon82932460 finds 5 topics for this week - analyzes topics from well being on platform, and looks at target audience and relevance, per country
  • Inge edits content (3 posts p/day) based on topics and recommendation by community managers
  • We translate the content in the respective languages
  • Filip schedules them on social and boosts posts (schedule = here: EdgeRyders social post plan - Google Tabellen)
  • We analyze how the first week went to see how we should adjust content

Besides the scheduled posts, weā€™ll probably want to share stories quickly after theyā€™ve been shared to generate more engagement for them, so weā€™ll be flexible in this. It would be great if the community managers could ping us.

Also, it would be great if the community managers could share with us who they think we should target in each respective country. Itā€™s of course important that we target both with the right content (visuals and messaging) and in advertising.

@nadia @noemi @Jirka_Kocian @natalia_skoczylas @hugi

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Thanks. A weekly ā€œcandarā€ type post presenting some calling for input/ activities to promote from broader community might be good too. If people are offered a channel / support to promote their own stuff , and discover cool stuff from rest of members, then vale of being tuned in to channel rises. No?

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Community: 1) individuals not tied to any edgeryders org projects 2) individuals formally connected to poprebel, ngi projects. The formats that works for each/ both might be different.

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Hi all.

So, after checking the wellbeing forum and browsing the web (and social), these are the topics I would focus the promotion on this week to kick of posting and advertising with the goal of achieving 250 subscribers within 6 months:

Czech:

  • Young people not having a sense of belonging and feeling lonely
  • expensive healthcare (not being available to all, i.e. private healthcare is difficult to get by common people)
  • untrust in politicians
  • factory workers are badly paid

Poland:

  • Eroding democracy
  • Citizens inaction to bad governmental decisions,
  • Anti-immigration sentiment
  • Problems of the Catholic church

Serbia

  • high levels of corruption in the country
  • prices high, salaries low
  • LGBT issues
  • nationalism
  • far-right issues
  • pro-Russia vs pro-Europe
  • human right issues

Germany

  • environment
  • far-right politics
  • migration
  • the rise of nationalism

Hungary

  • Eroding democracy under Orban
  • Eroding freedom of press
  • Air and water pollution problems
  • Migration
  • Populism

My and Ingeā€™s idea was to develop content around these topics for upcoming week or two, analyze them at the end of each week, see what works best, so we can branch out a particular aspect of these topics that generates the best discussion. Community managers @noemi @Jirka_Kocian @natalia_skoczylas @hugi , please let me know if you think these topics are OK or if you know that some others would work better in these countries. Also, do you guys (and girls) have any tools that you use to discover trending topics in countries?

Regarding your post @nadia, we did talk about posting on our social channels any stories that get posted for a new member (or an older one, doesnā€™t matter)), so they can share that content on their channels. We also came up with a plan to leave room for any additional stories that might come up, like the uprising in Czechia, so we can call people through our social channels to come to Edgeryders and talk about it.

We also discussed on integrating Twitter in the social media plan. On Twitter, there are a lot of interesting profiles that Iā€™m sure could become members of Edgeryders. We can post content there, but, in order to make the most of Twitter, it would be good that someone checks and contributes to discussions there and ā€˜lureā€™ people into Ederyders platform. I can do that if you are all OK with that, but in language specific conversations (like the czech one that appeared, there it would be good if a native speaker would contribute). What are your thoughts on that?

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Ping @noemi

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I dont think we work on Hungary at all :slight_smile:

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No? Ok then, makes translation job easier :-). What are your thoughts on the rest of the approach?

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I think the problem with the way you pick the topics is that they resonate with more liberal audiences and donā€™t bring us the more conservative and populist ones - in case of Poland, the only one that seems to clearly do it is the anti-immigration sentiment Iā€™d say. People voting for the current government do not see the erosion of democracy as such a warning trend - they pay attention to other things.

I would also try with the church, as itā€™s obviously a huge debate atm - although the present government tends to defend it, and in general Polish church works in a special way, neglecting progressive gestures from the center, highly influencing politics and breeding businessmen and feudal relations. But itā€™s worth a try, you might get some people on board with interesting takes.

Not sure how interested in civil activism are populist voters - but maybe the scene has changed over the years. And not sure what ā€œCitizens inaction to bad governmental decisionsā€ will spark as a debate. Weā€™re protesting a lot in Poland, but many will probably say, not enough. Not sure what is this point based on.

I think Poland should also have the struggling middle class and the neglected working class that is now looking for ways to be recognized.

There could be more interest in workersā€™ unions and professions struggling for the improvement of their conditions, some specific groups (farmers, elderly, nurses, teachers) protesting for better wages.

I think there is also a need to talk about the transformation in the 1989 and 1990 and what happened to classes, resources, possibilities after the economic reform. I think this is the root of the problem.

Also, the division of Poland into two zones of opportunity - Eastern Poland and Western Poland, and why wages and costs of living vary there, and what does it mean to people living in these places.

The division and tension between Poland living in the cities and rural Poland.

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To me it seems you are looking at this from the perspective of someone like your/ourselves - the moral compass, nor our idea(s)/ what we believe to be problems is not one that is shared.

For example it is my understanding that under Orban, the Hungarian middle class seems to be doing well as the state is heavily subsidising families that opt to have more children with subsidies, cheap loans etc. As a way to get birth rates up in a country that knows it has to address the issue of an aging population and is hostile to the prospect of the needed workforce migrating into the country from abroad. This is seen as a net positive by people: their real income goes up and they dont have to worry about competition from foreign workersā€¦You see where I am going with this?

We have the actual topics/themes to discuss. Now it is a matter of finding the differnt framings/calls for participation/ways to get attention for people from different social, economic and ideological backgrounds who are interested in/discussing these topics already in other settingsā€¦

Air and water pollution problems (environment), problems accessing healthcare, financial and or moral corruption, bad pay, loneliness/mental and emotional health problems. There are topics that can be connected to one or more of the theme we have

  1. healthcare & social care support
  2. Work and prosperity
  3. Moral and Psychological wellbeing

Makes sense?

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Using twitter in Poland is not the best idea, itā€™s not very popular, and when it is - politicians and opinion-shapers use it more than general public. Weā€™re much more on facebook and possibly on instagram.

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& @nadia Appreaciate the input. Let me then re-work these and post an update in few hours

@natalia_skoczylas I apologise as I didnā€™t specify for which countries should Twitter be used. I know for a fact that Twitter is used among our target audience in Serbia for sure (I do contribute in those discussions from time to time). Twitter can be used for Germany based on my research, as the conservative voters and alt-right voters tend to use it a lot (a bit difficult to differentiate trolls and bots as there are many, but we can give it a try). For Czech republic Iā€™ll check a bit more if it makes sense.

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These are my thoughts on German topics:

  • environment: Of course, always a topic for everybody. Maybe some specific focus also on the car industry and farming in connection with environmental issues and how there are different solutions proposed from different sites here?

  • far-right politics: Yes, AFD and Pegida are big topics. This is also connected to the topic of the big established parties losing trust and voters to both sides of the spectrum.

  • migration: Yes, however, the influx of people has slowed down which leads to the discussion going towards integration or how to live together increasingly, which leads for example to the topic of education which I will address later.

  • the rise of nationalism: I feel that this is not such a big topic in Germany even so far right politics are. It might be more relevant in Austria at the moment, but I might be wrong on that.

As raised by Inge and Nadia, they are mainly cut to address a part of the political spectrum to engage while the other part is presented as the problem. I personally agree with the notion that those right-wing political movements are a problem but depending on how diverse we want the discussions to be we have to also add other topics.
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One such topic for Germany that is always something people react across the political spectrum is:

Big (global) cooperations and their influence on politics and everyday life

Germany is very suspicious of companies such a Google and Facebook and for example, recently had quite some scandals with big automobile manufacturers.
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Another one:

The educational system and the differing chances due to different backgrounds

Pupils are still divided into 3 different school types at the age of 6, one leading theoretically to practical work after 9 years in total, one after 10 years to a career in craftsmanship or as a skilled worker, and the last one after 13 or 12 years to university. However, this system does not correlate well with modern work reality and has also been proofed to be very bad in terms of equality for students from different educational and economical family backgrounds. This effect of the background of the pupil connects also to migration and German as a second language and would be a viable topic to make posts on.

In terms of which platforms to use I am not sure. Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are the ones that are mainly mentioned and referred to in media, but especially younger generations might be using differently.

Is this the type of feedback you were looking for?

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these are great points, all. Very useful. Thanks! Iā€™ll work on a content schedule the next days and post it here online.

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Yes. Thank you for this!

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Update, do let me know if more on point:

Poland

  • Catholic church working with the government
  • Catholic church behaving more like businessmen instead of providing care for their flock in a sense of nurturing their spiritual needs
  • Problems of the working class (neglect, low wages)
  • Worker unions and their influence on the quality of life of an average worker in Poland
  • Has privatization of Polish public sector 1989-1990 determined the future of Poland
  • How did the ex-communist classes transformed into pro-western classes in Poland (and have they?)

Czechia

  • Czech companies rely more and more on foreign workers despite 100s of thousands of unemployed
  • How did transition from socialism to capitalism effect manual laborers
  • Itā€™s not difficult to find work in Czech Republic, but itā€™s difficult to live from it
  • Media encourages individuality, but more and more people (young and old) are suffering from loneliness
  • Too expensive healthcare

Serbia

  • Political connections mean having or not having a job in Serbia
  • Co-existing with Croats and Bosnians in Republic of Srpska
  • Should Kosovo become a part of Serbia again
  • pro-Russia vs pro-Europe
  • How did privatization from socialism to market economy effect the average Serbian worker (badly, that I already know :-)) )

Germany

  • Can farming be done effective (with farm machinery) and environment safe?
  • How can an average farmer in Germany compete with cheap imports from rest of the world
  • Why are big political parties in Germany losing voters
  • Can AFD and Pegida help Germans in securing their jobs and keeping Germany as a ā€˜driving forceā€™ of European union?
  • Influence of global coporations on politics and daily life
  • German school system doesnā€™t correlate with market demands
  • Children from different backgrounds and/or countries of origin struggle to get quality education in Germany

Would love to get some input on ideas for the Czech Republic if they are on point or not! The rest as well :slight_smile:

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Makes sense to me.

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Thanks for the outline, as for the Czech part, I would say in general terms it correlates well with what we have been discussing so far. Some ideas for consideration:

  • as for the first point, there are really no hundred thousands of unemployed, it is not an issue at all at the moment, nevertheless, the employement outsourcing especially in qualified jobs is
  • the last point - health care is completely for free, but the accessibility of it is an issue

The idea about loneliness is interesting, nevertheless, it is the first time I encountered it, I do not feel it to be that much present in the general discourse

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@Jirka_Kocian and @Richard could you please fill in the doodle to help us select a day and time of the week that works for everyone? Itā€™s a new 30 minute call every week to discuss content with our content curation and dissemination team: Expired Group Poll - Create a New Poll or Contact the Owner

More info here: Outreach & dissemination call #1: Call summary - #39 by johncoate

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I feel uncomfortable with that question as an individual, but you have to know what your strategy is and how and where you would word and address something in that direction. Maybe more ā€œWhy do people think that AFD and Pegida help Germans in securing their jobs and keeping Germany as a ā€˜driving forceā€™ of the European Union?ā€ but that is also going back to the topic on how and if to try to ask questions unbiased of our own political views.

Here I would phrase it may be more like ā€œChildren from different backgrounds and/or countries of origin struggle to get equal opportunities through the education system in Germanyā€

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Thanks for this! Will update :slight_smile: