PROGRAM
Caira Conner, Community Manager of PoliyMic, a rapidly growing Millennial-focused news site, will discuss strategies you can use to help build a social media brand, and how you can use social media and blogging as a tool to influence public policy. Lunch will be served.
RSVP to Jen Kalaidis, Public Policy Program Assistant, at jk954@hunter.cuny.edu
EVENT SUMMARY – How to Become a Policy Pundit (recap)
By Gianina Kesselman
On February 19, 2014 students and faculty at the Roosevelt House engaged in a brown bag lunch called How to Become a Policy Pundit, which discussed ways to use social media to influence public policy. The guest speaker at this event was Caira Conner, Community Manager of PolicyMic, a leading Millennail news publication. The talk started out as a discussion of the creation of PolicyMic and then went on to describe and demonstrate what sets PolicyMic apart from other publications.
The founders of PolicyMic, Jake Horowitz and Christopher Altchek, realized that there was a void in media as it relates to Millennials. The two found that young people wanted a place to voice their concerns and viewpoints, but did not have a platform to go about doing so. They then created PolicyMic as a way to spark conversation about and improve the reach of the Millennial voice.
One of the main points Conner often interjected throughout her talk was that PolicyMic is a stage in which no ideas or viewpoints are turned away; instead, the goal of PolicyMic is to spark intelligent debate among readers all over the political spectrum. In fact, the editors encourage a writer’s personal bias to shine through.
Another major point Conner frequently addressed was the notion of the counter narrative. PolicyMic is more interested in why, for instance, a politician’s activity on social media may have been more important than the work her or she did on a related issue. Another example Conner gave was a recent PolicyMic story, #SochiProblems Is More of An Embarrassment For America Than It Is For Russia. Because this article countered the prevailing narrative around the Sochi Olympics and showed readers something they hadn’t seen before, it received 1,704,616 views and 87,790 shares.
Although there are specific standards writers must meet before being published, PolicyMic is a site where personal voice exceeds what is politically correct. During this event, Conners successfully displayed to students and faculty the ways in which they could portray themselves online in an intelligent way, while also expressing what they truly believe.
TOP 3 SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS
- Follow the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of what you post should be professional, academic, or topical in the news. The other 20 percent can be personal.
- Always have a professional picture or headshot displayed in your profile. People are more willing to talk to and interact with someone they put a face to and relate with.
- With Twitter, each tweet should either contain a person/organization/group or a trending hashtag topic (for example, #fem2). This will increase your audience and exposure.
Gianina Kesselman is a senior at Hunter College majoring in Urban Studies. She will also be receiving a certificate in Environmental Public Policy, is a proud member of the Thomas Hunter Honors program, and is a Jewish Foundation for Education of Women Eleanor Roosevelt Scholar. In her spare time Gianina works at Manhattan Charter School and is a volunteer tutor to students in all subjects. Follow her on Twitter @Kesselmang
