Teacher Bytes

Imagine the power to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people to your cause? How could you do it? Yesterday, February 4th, millions of Colombians around the world protested the violent actions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia aka FARC. How were organizers from a South American country able to rally so many in less than three weeks to a cause the mainstream press rarely mentions? The answer is the social networking site Facebook.

Miss Veronica, our Colombian Bi-lingual Liaison at our school , proudly wore a t-shirt in the colors of the Colombian flag protesting FARCS actions. On the back of that shirt is a picture of her grandfather who was kidnapped by FARC rebels over 13 years ago. The group was started in 1964 by Colombian Communists. Today, FARC uses kidnapping, terrorist tactics, and illegal drug smuggling to finance and bring attention to their cause.

I assigned students in my Web Media Communications class to interview Ms. Veronica about the protest for our class show. During their research, the team noticed Facebook was used to turn this protest into a worldwide event. Recently social networking sites are constantly maligned in the press again for a variety of reasons, usually causing some harm to children. However, it should be noted how one social networking site was used to communicate to millions of people the call to show Colombia they are not alone in their struggle to maintain peace and justice in a country with a perception of lawlessness. This use of Facebook will not go unnoticed as political campaigns, activist groups, and businesses will see the benefits of social networking sites to rally people. Schools too could use social networking sites to rapidly distribute information and seek support whenever needed.