Social media, through the democratization of technology, turns content readers into content generators and publishers. The proliferation of blogs, forums, podcasts, wikis, uploaded videos and photos show the enormous willingness of people to create and consume social media.

Non-profits working in international justice and human rights can capture this energy and use it effectively to:

1. Publicize issues / share experiences – through social media individual voices can be heard and awareness raised for issues forgotten by traditional media

2. Organize activism / policy change – social media can create momentum for change, and combined with cheap technology it is an effective method to organize locally and globally

3. Gather evidence – everyone can become a content provider and social media can go where traditional media is barred, making human rights abuses more difficult to hide

Let’s explore a few non-profits using social media:

• Global Voices Online takes key blogs from around the world and translates, where necessary, for a wider audience. On 12th August 2009, featured stories ranged from Pakistan’s National Assembly passing a bill to outlaw domestic violence to resistance of a government eviction order in Puerto Rico. By creating a portal where blogs are available for international audiences, GVO increases awareness and opportunities for them to be picked-up by mainstream media.

• Witness uses videos of personal accounts of human rights abuses as a tool to seek justice, promote engagement and policy change. Recent campaign topics include child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and internally displaced people in Burma.

• Video the Vote is a US national network of volunteers that video and upload voting irregularities during elections.

• International Rescue Committee provides support to regions in crisis and helps to re-settle refugees in the US. It uses a variety of social media on their website from photos, videos, podcasts, videos, RSS feed, bringing refugee stories to life and using it to advocate change.

The role that social media can play in international justice and human rights leverages many of the inherent strengths of this form of media. The speed and breadth of social media goes far beyond traditional media, as anyone with a combination of a mobile phone, camera, video camera and an Internet connection can be a content generator. It is a cost effective method for large scale participation that relies upon personal stories.

However, non-profits need to challenge themselves and also learn from each other in order to improve their effective use of social media tools. Many criticisms focus on either quality of information or lack of impact. Good examples of sites addressing these concerns are Global Voices Online, which relies on over 200 volunteer bloggers to sort out the most interesting materials from around the world, and Witness videos, which are a part of a wider advocacy campaign to drive real change.

As social media grows we should ask ourselves:

How can non-profit organizations best promote social media and use it effectively to tackle international justice and human rights?

How will national governments respond to these publications? (Censorship and violence could be outcomes)

How will the international community react to human rights abuses evidenced by social media?

Emily Zhang is an MBA student at Harvard Business School. She has a law and consulting background with experience working in Australia, Cambodia, China and England.