Journalists, journalism students and activists from Jordan and Lebanon who came together to learn about using online tools to raise public awareness about issues, immediately put their experience to work to promote the importance of press freedom. To commemorate World Press Freedom Day [10] they produced viral posters and videos and formed a Facebook group to sustain their efforts.
The IREX- led training in Amman, Jordan had the young journalists and activists produce an online advocacy campaign consisting of a competition for the best online poster [11] and the creation of a video public service announcement [12] about press freedom. Participants also studied best tactics on how to garner likes and shares and how to reach an audience on Social Media. The posters went viral with the most popular poster accumulating more than 800 likes and 100 shares on Facebook in the first 24 hours after its release. Several other posters also received hundreds of likes and shares. The winners of the e-poster competition were recognized by local television and media, including Jordan TV, Mouab [13], JordanZad [14] and the Jordan Times [15].
The participants created a Facebook page [16] and have committed to continue maintaining it as a platform for sustained discussion of issues related to freedom of the press. In addition, they plan to apply their new Social Media skills into their everyday activism efforts. Participant Belal Khasawneh remarked, “It was a useful training that we had. I learned a lot, especially about social media and using it for advocacy. The e-posters competition encouraged us to interact more with other participants.”
The workshop was implemented by IREX as part of the Social Media | Social Action (SMSA) Project [17], funded by the U.S. State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), in cooperation with UNESCO Jordan [18]. Additional support was provided by the Samir Kassir Foundation. SMSA develops the capacity of youth and civil society organizations in the MENA region to use social media more effectively in order to advance their work and increase civic participation.