How can communicators help their organizations achieve the millennium development goals? InterAction and the United Nations Foundation hosted a one-day media summit to discuss this and other issues with journalists and development communicators. A predominant theme in the discussion was having a multi-tiered strategy that includes social media and partnerships. Here are a few points that stood out.
1. Mainstream media might not be useful. Paul Mitchell, former division manager of development communications at the World Bank said out loud what many of us have already been thinking. Read more of his thoughts here. Given the way media is changing and niche markets are developing, there is good reason to focus on niche outlets.
2. The new stupid: congregating around an issue at a very shallow level. Ben Parker IRIN pointed out that it is easy to great a social networking group, but it is not clear how to move it to action. As he put it, “Liking” on Facebook is not a real engagement.
3. Partnerships are increasingly valuable. Karen Turner of USAID cited examples of public private partnerships that are important especially given the new aid architecture with 80% of resources transferred is from the private sector. Jon Sawyer of the Pulitzer Center cited an example of partnering with National Geographic, the News Hour, and other outlets on water issues. Todd Jacobson, vice president of community relations at the NBA emphasized the way to create effective partnerships is to leverage core competencies.
Read more about the event on Twitter. Look for the hashtag #iasummit.
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