Internal Comms

To be successful, you need great lines of communication with your group and supporters.

Online Behaviour Guide

XR's Regenerative Culture

We owe each other a duty of care to make our presence on our communications platforms a comfortable and beneficial experience. This includes a healthy focus on mutually supporting through:

Etiquette and Standards for Posts

When posting messages contributors should:

When using chat channels and forums, all contributors should have a duty of care for the community, offering a harassment-free space for all to participate, embracing our unique differences.

Positive Behaviours

Negative Behaviours

Maintaining good behaviour falls to all of us

If messages or comments stray from the above guidelines, it's up to each of us to feed back our concerns in a sensitive way depending on the platform being used. Our regenerative statement says: "[we have] cultures of respect and listening, in which people deal with conflicts when they arise, feeding back quickly and talking about disagreements and issues without blaming and shaming."

If you find a post that you believe needs moderation, see the moderation chapter for guidance.

Communicating with your Group

To be successful, you need great lines of communication with your group and supporters.

You should also have a set of comms channels appropriate for different audiences. This will vary from group to group, but the following is typical:

Your comms will be busiest when you're organising an action. There's more detailed guidance in this page of the Action Planning book.

In addition to the above comms channels, if you have "sub groups" (maybe you're organising a nation/region or community group) then you should have a network of reps from each group in a shared chat and, when appropriate, a regular meeting.

Email Accounts and Email Lists

There are two types of email to think about...

Email Accounts

An email account for people to have two-way conversations with you. This is the equivalent of your personal email account, but for your group instead. You could use a gmail etc free email account or you could apply for one from XRUK e.g. groupname@extinctionrebellion.uk.

The benefits of applying for one ending in extinctionrebellion.uk are:

Apply for an @extinctionrebellion.uk email account here.

Email Lists

An email list is where supporters can sign up and receive updates from you. This is a way to email large groups of people all at once. You can still put a 'reply-to' address, so that individuals can reply with a questions. Your emails should be 'on message' and jargon-free, because people on your list might be interested members of the public who are not yet invovled - and maybe even a few journalists too!

Emails are more useful for internal comms: e.g. single-topic emails telling people about an event or action that is coming up, or newsletter style roundups of everything that's happened recently.

XR uses a system called 'Action Network' to store your list of email subscribers and send mass emails to them. It is funded centrally, GDPR compliant and available to all local groups. You can read more in this Action Network overview.

The benefits of being part of XRUK's Action Network system are numerous and you can read more here about why to use Action Network as opposed to other systems such as Mailchimp. Being part of this network helps you pick up more subscribers because you lists will be automatically promoted for you in a number of ways - read more here

For information and support:

Messaging Apps: Choosing an App

An overview of messaging apps and detail on the four main ones: WhatsApp, Telegram, Mattermost and Signal

Messaging Apps: Choosing an App

Messaging Apps Overview

If you want to create a group chat for your XR group, there are loads of different options and making the right choice can be difficult.

In this document, we will compare the four apps most commonly used by XR groups. There is an overview on this page, and much more detail in subsequent pages of this chapter.

Ultimately which tool you decide to go with comes down to what you and the other people in your group are comfortable with. Our recommendations can be summarised as:

If your group...

Where possible please use existing chats rather than creating more new ones. Let’s work together to prevent information overwhelm.

Consider one closed group chat for organising actions (usually a temporary group on Signal or private Mattermost channel) and one open chat for participation (usually on Telegram or a public Mattermost channel)

Overview

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is widely used by people outside of XR but it is not secure and is limited in its functionalities so is not great for organising. It also doesn’t sync up with Mattermost.

More detail here....

Telegram

Telegram is used for XRUK's broadcast channels

It’s an encrypted messaging service with lots of features. You can edit and pin messages, see the chat history after you join a channel, locate media, and each chat can hold a large number of people. It’s also accessible on nearly any device. A limit on message word count can impact broadcast posts.

More detail here....

Telegram is similar to WhatsApp but with greater flexibility and features.

Mattermost

Mattermost is XR’s main messaging app for working groups. It functions on its own server, making it particularly secure. It is accessible on any device and has tons of flexible features and ways of storing and searching for information.

The drawback is that it can be overwhelming in layout and content and requires time to get to grips with it. It’s similar to popular workplace messaging systems like Slack, Discord, or Microsoft Teams chat.

More detail here....

Signal

Signal is widely used by action planning groups and organisers. It’s the most secure encrypted chat with a disappearing message function. It’s also visually clean and crisp.

However, it’s not possible to pin or thread messages or edit your messages after 15 minutes, making it less useful for mass communications.

More detail here...

Summary Table


Whats­App
Telegram
Matter­most
Signal
Security
Accessibility
Features
Discover­ability
Messaging Apps: Choosing an App

Security and Discoverability

Why does security matter?

Given the types of actions XR does, it is essential that the authorities do not get access to rebels' personal information and private messages. This is for a number of reasons including:

When discussing security in the context of messaging apps, there are two main things to think about:

The first of these is straightforward - to make sure messages cannot be intercepted we need to make sure that the app uses secure encryption when sending messages. The second, however, is a little more complicated as it depends on terms like "end-to-end encryption".

End-to-end encryption is used by a number of messaging apps. What it means is that the messages are stored on the phones sending and receiving the messages, rather than on some server. This is generally good from a security standpoint because the authorities would need to access one of the phones in order to see the messages; something much harder for them to do than approach the owners of the server with a warrant.

Another important things to consider when choosing a messaging app is whether or not you want to have disappearing messages. These are messages that are automatically deleted after a certain time period, usually around a week or so. This can provide an additional layer of security on top of end-to-end encryption.

Lastly, one extremely important thing to bear in mind when discussing security is that by far the biggest weakness in XR's security is the people. It is very easy for an undercover police officer to pose as a protester and get themselves added to a 'secure' group chat. Once that happens, any security features of the messaging app become irrelevant since the authorities can see everything that is getting discussed.

Why does discoverability matter?

Discoverability - making your group easy to find and get in touch with - is a huge issue for XR. We are a decentralised organisation so each group has the freedom to decide how they want to organise and communicate. This is fantastic from the point of view of self organising, but it makes it difficult to share knowledge and skills across groups. To try and reduce this problem, it is important when choosing a messaging app to think about how other rebels and groups can find your group and get in touch with you.

Messaging Apps: Choosing an App

WhatsApp

WhatsApp Logo

WhatsApp is a hugely popular messaging app with over 2 billion users. It's easy to use and the vast majority of rebels will already have it installed on their phones. Does this make it a good fit for your XR group?

Security

Despite being end-to-end encrypted, WhatsApp has a number of serious security issues that make it a poor choice for serious organisation in XR. To start with, it is owned by Facebook, a company whose income depends on collecting people's personal information. They can't read your actual messages, but there's still lots of metadata they can collect. You can read WhatsApp's privacy policy to get an idea of the sorts of information that they are collecting.

Another issue with WhatsApp is that it makes it easy to backup chats to a cloud storage (like iCloud or Google Drive), and that by default the option to make these backups encrypted is off by default. That means that any user in your chat who has a backup running (which is common) and hasn't manually set this to be encrypted will be uploading the whole chat (their messages and everybody else's messages in the shared chat) to a server. The data on that server can be read by the company (or security services with a warrant).

Accessibility

WhatsApp has a lot in common with other messaging apps so it is usually quite straightforward for rebels to learn how to use it. However, in order to sign up to WhatsApp you need a smartphone, which not all rebels will have access to. In order to use WhatsApp on a computer, the smartphone that it's linked to must be connected to the internet continuously, which is a hindrance.

Features

You can't save messages for later or mark them as unread so you constantly lose key info and can't find it again. The message box is small and you can't thread effectively so it is difficult to keep track of a conversation.

Discoverability

Within WhatsApp, group admins can create and share links that rebels can follow to sign up to the group. This provides a quick and easy way to invite new people. However, unless this link is published somewhere for rebels to find, it is impossible to find the group to join in the conversation.

Other information

Another issue with WhatsApp is that many people use it to speak to friends and family. Having XR-related chats on the same platform can put unnecessary stress on rebels who might want to temporarily 'switch off' XR communications in order to avoid burnout.

Messaging Apps: Choosing an App

Telegram

Telegram Logo

Telegram is a great messaging app filled with features. In particular it has broadcast channels which can be fantastic for sharing information widely. But is it suitable for group chats?

Security

Although Telegram's website would have you believe otherwise, Telegram actually provides the worst security out of all the apps being compared here (source, source).

One of the reasons why this is the case is because Telegram group chats are not end-to-end encrypted. Telegram does allow users to have secret chats with self-destructing messages. However, this is not available for group chats so all of the messages that you send to a group chat will be stored on a server somewhere accessible to the authorities.

Another serious problem with Telegram's security is that messages are sent using Telegram's own private encryption protocol, as opposed to something used more widely. This means that it has not been as thoroughly tested and many security vulnerabilities have been exposed in the past.

Can be compromised if malware is installed on the phone or computer, or other people have access to that device if they use your login. Or if you have infiltrators - no app protects against those.

Accessibility

Telegram is one of the most accessible apps available. You don't need a smartphone to sign up, just a phone number, and it can be used on practically any device.

Features

Telegram is very useful for broadcast channels (in which only admins can post). Links for these can then be shared on wider channels (eg. Rebellion Broadcast). However, widely shared links attract spammers so they need to be carefully moderated.

Discoverability

Telegram has some excellent features that make group chats easy to find and join. Like Signal and WhatsApp, users can share a link to the chat that people can use to join it. However, you can also search for public Telegram channels from inside Telegram. This makes it easy to find and contact broadcast groups but can also lead to spam since anyone can join these channels - even if they are not a member of XR.

Use this information to help you hide your details from spammers.

And this information about removing spamers.

Drawbacks

Telegram is really a social media platform and has a very ‘relaxed’ content moderation strategy- this means it is targeted by spammers if you have open channels. You have to be on top of moderating it!

Some people find it difficult as you can't save messages for later or mark them as unread so you constantly lose key info and can't find it again.

It's limited in terms of formatting messages and if you want to broadcast and add an image there's a character limit so you have to be able to either fit your message into that limit or miss out key info.

Messaging Apps: Choosing an App

Mattermost

Mattermost Logo

Mattermost is the messaging app that has been specially set up by XR for rebels to collaborate with each other. It is quite different to the other apps being discussed because it is designed to be used by teams in a workplace as well as for personal communications. Unlike the other tools, it also exclusively runs off of renewable energy.

Security

Mattermost takes quite a different approach to security than the other apps. Instead of employing tactics such as end-to-end encryption and self-deleting messages, Mattermost prevents the authorities from accessing your group's messages by storing them on our own secure server.

Its great to use Mattermost as one of your channels if you are 'Air-gapping to separate out information on a need to know basis.

Another great advantage to using Mattermost is that if rebels ever get arrested, they can have their accounts temporarily suspended so the police would not be able to read any messages even if they took a rebel's phone. Once the rebel gets out of custody they can then have their account reactivated.

Can be compromised if malware is installed on the phone or computer, or other people have access to that device if they use your login. Or if you have infiltrators - no app protects against those.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are discussing anything 'spicy' / illegal, ensure all members of your private Mattermost channel or group Direct Message, have their email notifications set to Never. This adds a level of security as emails potentially can be compromised or 'hacked'. To check your notifications, select the Settings icon - Notifications - Email Notifications - Edit - Never - Save.

Mattermost Settings

Accessibility

You do not need a smartphone to sign up - only an email address - and you can easily use it on any device unlike some other apps (e.g. WhatsApp) that only work if linked to your phone.

If you have a computer it is very easy to use since you don't have to install anything - just use your browser. This also means that the messages can be easily read on a larger screen.

Features

Mattermost has by far the most features out of the apps being compared. It is specifically designed for use by teams, as opposed to personal messaging, and so has a number of advantages over the other messaging apps.

For example, in Mattermost chats are organised into teams, public channels, private channels, and direct messages. This makes it easy to navigate between different chats. Also, Mattermost has a much better way to handle multiple conversations happening in the same channel at once. Whilst the other apps allow you to quote reply to individual messages, Mattermost has threaded conversations so you can see the full history.

You are also able to save messages for yourself which makes finding links and key info much easier, mark messages as unread to revisit later, pin important messages so other people in the chat can find them easily and store regularly used links such as minutes and eeting links in the Channel Header for everyone to use removing the need to bookmark/store those links on personal devices.

Writing messages in Mattermost is also more powerful. Not only are you able to edit your messages after you've sent them, but you can use Markdown to format your messages in fancy ways. Great for making eye-catching announcements!

There is a small learning curve when you use Mattermost for the first time because, being designed for teams, it is laid out differently to the other apps. The design is practically identical to other popular messaging apps like Slack and Discord so if you are familiar with those you will have no issues.

Discoverability

One of the main reasons why XR uses Mattermost is to make groups discoverable. Every group that signs up to the XR UK Hub will have public and private group chats created on Mattermost for them as the Hub does the 'heavy-lifting' for you. Having your group on the Hub means the Hub does the work of creating your Mattermost channels (as well as Cloud folder and Forum spaces) and the group's members will be joined automatically to the group's chats and at the same time, given access to the Cloud folder and Forums.

Every group that signs up to the Hub gets a public group chat called a RECEPTION channel so, if you're not a member of the group, contacting the group is as simple as searching for and joining the group's Reception. Having public discoverable Receptions is a major advantage over other apps as you can quickly see if a channel already exists for a specific group or topic. After joining a Reception you can then chat to the group and if you want to get more involved, you can be sent a Hub invite to the group which automatically adds you to the group's private channel. You can't search for chats on WhatsApp and Signal and can only find big public channels on Telegram which leads to similar channels being regularly created for the same purposes on these other apps. This can lead to burn-out for chat Admins as there often isn't the capacity to administer these additional chats and in addition, rebels get added to multiple chats for the same group increasing the number of chats they need to monitor which quickly leads to individual burn-out.

You can also use the Hub Groups List to find other groups and get information such as their email address, website and social media account.

This is why we strongly recommend that your group at least signs up to Mattermost and the Hub as it provides an easy way for other groups to get in touch with you.

Messaging Apps: Choosing an App

Signal

Signal Logo

Security

Signal has the best security out of all of the apps compared here. Chats are always end-to-end encrypted and you can enable disappearing messages. Furthermore, Signal is actually open-source. This means that anybody can look at Signal's source code and verify that it is secure.

Signal has been designed with security in mind, not bolted on afterwards, so the defaults are more likely to be good

Signal PIN is a useful application lock - though that isn't set up on the computer version.

Signal encrypts local information on your computer or phone - so its only visible through the app or computer programme.

Can be compromised if malware is installed on the phone or computer, or other people have access to that device if they use your login. Or if you have infiltrators - no app protects against those.

Accessibility

People aren’t normally familiar with Signal before joining XR so may be a barrier to newcomers or less technical users.

Has complicated features like Signal PIN which can be a barrier to use.

It is available on computer - though its still tied to your phone number.

Features

Signal has many of the same features as WhatsApp and Telegram. Whilst this makes it easy to learn how to use, it also means that:

Discoverability

Just like WhatsApp, you can share links to Signal group chats allowing people to quickly join the group. This is great for signing people up but it is hard for rebels to find this link and join the group.

Drawbacks

It can be hard to know who is on a Signal chat - as names can be changed, and phone numbers hidden. Like all chat apps - be careful who you are talking to if that's important.

Signal can also be problematic for rebels who have limited storage on their phones because the messages are stored locally instead of in the cloud, and this can take up a lot of space.

The "metadata" about who's using the app and where they appear to be may be available to the authorities if they can track the connections to the central computer server, or get access to that server.

Messaging Apps: Administrating & Moderating Chats

Messaging Apps: Administrating & Moderating Chats

Keeping group chats as secure as possible

When setting up the group chat make sure you follow these rules to keep it as secure as possible

  1. Ideally only add people that you know well or are verified by others (trusted rebels)
  2. Make sure only admins can add new members to the chat.
  3. If you are doing spicy actions make sure people use pseudonyms and burner phones if possible, and that those are added to the correct chats (with their normal names and numbers removed).
  4. Make sure there are separate secure chats for action days or spicy actions so that you can delete them afterwards.
  5. Make sure you set disappearing messages. If actions are happening soon, make sure you set disappearing messages to a day or a week. Otherwise 4 weeks should be fine (Only Signal can do this automatically however Admins in Mattermost, WhatsApp and Telegram can delete others' messages.)
  6. Make sure you keep the group links off.
  7. Remember that many chat platforms attach media and files and links separately, so admins should regularly check that old media files and links are deleted
  8. After the chat is done, and everyone has agreed that the group chat is done with, leave the group and delete the chat off your phone
  9. Some members may not do this, so once the chat is done with, admins can remove members individually and then delete the chat off phones by deleting the group chat altogether - in this way people are not on lots of different chats that have ended which may cause security issues should someone’s phone be seized.
Messaging Apps: Administrating & Moderating Chats

Moderating a group chat

Hopefully, you’ll never be in a tricky situation; but sometimes people can troll, spam or act against XR’s Principles and Values on group chats. In general, this is less likely to happen on closed, secure chats, but it is a good idea to have ‘agreed in advance’ rules for this type of behaviour. It is important to make sure difficult or contentious situations don’t escalate.

  1. Always make sure there are at least three trusted admins to moderate the chat. Create a separate (private) chat for these moderators, so there’s a space for people to support each other in response to questions or queries. Take turns to do the moderation.

  2. Name the chat and use the header/description to make it clear what the chat is and why people have been added. Make sure that only admins can add members or access the invite link - turn off the group link in settings (there is no group link in WhatsApp). Be aware of where the invite links are posted, e.g. don't add private invite links to the Rebel Toolkit - spammers will find these and join your group chats.

  3. Create a group agreement. It is up to your group what rules you agree to, but it is best to ensure these rules are agreed to in advance. It also helps for rules to be the same on all platforms you are using to communicate. Ensure that when people sign up to the group they are pointed to the group agreement so they know what they are agreeing to, or that they are shown it before joining the group. Link the group agreement from the chat header/description

  4. Welcome newcomers. Answer questions and make sure people feel heard. Regularly remind everybody of chat etiquette. Chatting informally to build momentum in the public chat is best done from personal accounts, rather than anonymous admins.

  5. Block and report spammers. See here for how to manage spammers in Telegram.

  6. Avoid posting sensitive action info, naming organisers or any info which can later be used as evidence. Also be aware that infiltration is common on open chats, so don’t share anything that can be used against people as evidence.

  7. If a member of the group keeps posting off-topic messages or dominating the space respectfully ask them to stay on track, or switch to a more suitable channel. Create another space for them to be heard. If they continue, follow up with a direct message, or ultimately consider blocking them from the chat with an explanation. Make sure that moderators follow the policy and are ready to be challenged and justify removals.

  8. If people leave the chat in response to a post, this is a sign of overheating - slow down, pause and reflect.

  9. Follow a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ policy. On the first occasion of ‘misbehaviour’ an admin should remove the person/people from the group, private message them to explain they have been removed, and calmly explain why (citing the rules you have agreed to). On the group chat itself that they have been removed from, explain that you have removed them from the group and why. If you have a group agreement in place most people will know the policy and know what will happen if there is bad behaviour on a group chat. You may decide in your group on a zero-tolerance policy for some misbehaviour.

  10. Give the removed person a cooling-off period and discuss re-adding them to the group provided they are willing to follow the group agreement. Ideally, if the person is happy to apologise, and wants to be added back into the group then you can add them back in, on the basis that there is only one more chance. As we said, if this is covered in the group agreement policy in advance, and everyone knows what happens in a bad behaviour situation, then nobody should be upset about this. Once that person has been let back into the group, admins should ensure that ongoing conversations are monitored and enforce the ‘two strikes and you are out policy’. If necessary, you may need to remove them from the group conversations permanently, and you may also want to assess whether or not you want them involved in the XR Local Group, Community Group, or Working Group at all.

Messaging Apps: Administrating & Moderating Chats

Chat Etiquette for XR Group Chats

Here are a few Chat Etiquette Guidelines that are being used in XR Group Chats whether on Mattermost, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp:

Mattermost Moderation Guidelines

You could copy and paste this as the basis of a group agreement on your chat - edit it to your requirements.

XR Chats Guidelines

🎯 Be clear about the purpose of the chat and how people join (private invite only or by public link). Add this info to the chat description. Be aware of where the invite links are posted, e.g. don't add private invite links to the Rebel Toolkit - spammers will find these and join your group chats.

📌 If using Telegram, pin key messages and keep them updated. Or for other platforms put an info link in the header.

👥 Make sure you have several admins and moderators; preferably a small group who can support each other and make sure the chat is well moderated and kept up to date.

👋🏿 Welcome newcomers. Answer questions and make sure people feel heard.

❌ Avoid posting sensitive action info, naming organisers or any info which can later be used as evidence. Also be aware that infiltration is common on open chats, so don’t share anything that can be used against people as evidence.

📩Keep messages short and link out for more info (unless it’s a discussion thread). Take forward any issues via direct message or temporary small group chats.

🙅🏼‍♂️ Block and report spammers.

🥱 If a member of the group keeps posting off-topic messages or dominating the space respectfully ask them to stay on track, or switch to a more suitable channel. Create another space for them to be heard. If they continue, follow up with a direct message, or ultimately consider blocking them from the chat with an explanation. Mattermost Off-Topic channels are ideal.

❓ Answer questions and make sure people feel heard.

🔥 If people leave the chat in response to a post, this is a sign of overheating - slow down, pause and reflect.

♻️ Remind each other of chat etiquette, especially newcomers.

Messaging Apps: Administrating & Moderating Chats

Telegram: How to remove spammers

Spamming can be an issue with Telegram chats.

If members can share the group's invite link, it can end up anywhere!

If you receive direct messages [DM] from random people on Telegram saying things such as, 'Hello' or 'Hello, what are the XR groups doing?' or similar - simply report, block and delete immediately. If you engage with a random DM then you'll find yourself in a conversation, the spammer will try to engage you for as long as possible resulting in either asking for money, help with transferring funds or something along those lines.

If you have a spammer in your chat you will want to:

  1. remove them from the group chat
  2. delete all of their messages
  3. report them to Telegram (although it's not known if this has an impact).

Some spammers will join the group and quickly change their name to stop you from finding and removing them, so try to complete this process quickly. You can follow the steps below either on a phone or on your laptop/desktop

1. You need to be an admin

Please share the workload by making other trusted rebels admins.

2. Find where the spammer joined the chat via the invite link

3. Right click

4. Select "delete"

5. Select the 3 tickboxes: Ban user, Report spam and Delete all

6. Revoke the current invite link

You can revoke the current invite link so more spammers can't use it and create a new invite link to be shared with only trusted rebels

On a phone:

On a computer:

7. To change permissions to prevent more spammers adding more spammers

So spammers can't add more spammers/bad agents to your group, select Permissions and switch off 'Add Users'

Messaging Apps: Administrating & Moderating Chats

Template Group Agreement

‘Chat burn out’ is a very real thing, something well studied, and ensuring discussion is kept out of chat, and chat is kept out of discussion takes work.

This is important work, as it keeps our communication and knowledge synthesis environments healthy, enjoyable and productive.

The basics

Moderation Policies

Two Strikes policy

Posts that are harmful/destructive in nature (for instance, advocating violence) and posts that breach the Principles & Values will fall under a Two Strikes policy. This involves a warning and explanation, with a further overstep resulting in the person being removed from the chat.

Examples:

Three Strikes policy

Posts that are considered spam, trolling, or aim to co-opt support, will fall under a Three Strikes policy. This includes posts that use the @all or @channel or @here notifications, as is posting the same message across many channels (cross posting). Adding rebels to groups or channels without their permission is also considered spamming.

Posters that advertise personal projects or call for rebels to join movements outside of XR also apply. As will apparent trolls.

Examples:

Off topic Policy

Off topic posts are reasonably inevitable. However should chatter start around such an off topic post, it can quickly add noise to a channel, and so stressing our communication streams. Authors of such posts need to be gently encouraged to take their topic to a more appropriate channel.

Messaging Apps: Broadcast Channels

Broadcast-only channels are for sharing key information to your group and supporters, to mobilise people to attend actions, events and training.

This page offers guidance in setting up, running, and creating messages for a broadcast channel

Setting up a broadcast channel

Using a broadcast channel

Facebook Events

This page will teach you:

For help using the rest of Facebook, head over to the Facebook page of the Social Media book

Create a Facebook event

Get your cover ready

Check this folder in case the cover you need is already there. Best to use something that already exist than reinvent the wheel!

If you feel crafty, head to Viz Gen / Aktivisda to create your cover. The correct Facebook event photo size has the dimensions of 1920 x 1005 pixels (a 1.91:1 ratio, or about 2:1).

💡 Good practice: centre your title so it looks better on the events menu (as shown below), avoid writing too much text (your text should be inside the event, not on the cover), make sure your text is easy to read (use a simple background, pick contrasted colours, for example black on yellow or white on dark blue).

7-1-cover.jpg

Start creating your event

Watch the step by step tutorial or follow the explanations below:

  1. Switch to your page profile them go to your landing page (click the Facebook logo). Click here for a reminder on how to do this.
  2. On the left-hand side column, click the "events" button.
  3. Click the blue button "+ create new event".
  4. Add your cover icon.
  5. Give your event a catchy name (make it self explanatory, for example: XR Manchester Weekly Meeting).
  6. Set up a date and time (recurring events will be explained below), don't forget to add an end time so people will know how long your event is.
  7. Select "in person or "virtual"
    • if it's in person, you can add an address ("add location")
    • if it's virtual, you can add a link in "external link"
    • in both cases, it's safer to repeat this information in the description of your event.
  8. Write the description ("what are the details"):
    • What should people expect from this event? How to join? Will there be food? Is it accessible? Should they bring something?
    • You can add emojis to create a better reading experience (but don't abuse them) by copy/pasting them from an outside source (Telegram, Word, an emoji bank...)

Recurring events

If you have regular meetings, you might want to set up your event as a recurring one to avoid having to create a new event each time.

Select "repeat event" in the menu.

Then select a frequency in the drop down menu.

If your event happens fortnightly, select "custom".

Now select all the dates when your event will happen.

If your event always happen at the same time, add the time to the first date then tick the box "Add this time to all dates", then click "add". Otherwise, add the times for each dates separately.

Co-hosting an event

Add a co-host to your event

A co-host is another organisation or local group that is co-organising an event with you. They will be able to modify your event, so make sure you're only adding trusted pages as co-hosts.

When you're in the process of creating an event, scroll down a little after writing your description and click "add co-host".

Write the name of the page(s) you want to add (for example: Extinction Rebellion UK) or their username (in that case: xrebellionuk).

A username is a unique name you will find when visiting a Facebook page and looking at the URL. It's what goes after facebook.com/

Some pages have not yet picked a username so they will have numbers as well in their URL.

💡 If you often create events with the same co-hosts, make yourself a spreadsheet with their usernames so you only have to copy/paste them insteas of writing down the name of each page every time.

⚠️ Be careful of selecting the right page. Sometimes Facebook is a bit cheeky and will pop a list on your screen (it might be a glitch, it could be fake pages too), as shown below:

7-cohost.jpg

  1. Click add co-hosts
  2. Write the username or name of page
  3. Ignore the pages without the proper logo
  4. Only select the page showing up with the proper logo
  5. Repeat to add more co-hosts

Accept a co-host request

If you're lucky, you'll see a notification pop up on your page's profile if you are asked to co-host an event. Sadly that's not always the case. This is a glitch within Facebook.

When you send a co-host request to a page, copy the link of your event and send it via private message (or email, or via a chat if you know one of the admins). This way they will definitely be aware of it.

If someone sends you a co-host request, it'll will look like this:

7-cohost-request.jpg

You can then click "accept" or "decline".

Add an existing event to your page

If you've spotted an event you'd like to advertise on your page but you haven't been made a co-host, watch this step by step video tutorial, or read the explanations below.

8-add-to-page.jpg

Head to the event you'd like to add, then:

  1. Click the 3 little dots on the right-hand side
  2. Click "add to page"
  3. Check it's being added to the right page then click "add event" to confirm

Documents

Which document platform to use

Google Docs enables you to share information in a fluid and integrated way with others, including taking comments and suggestions. Remember to make final versions "View Only" so they can’t be changed.

However, it is not secure for sharing sensitive information.

Cryptpad is a shared document app similar to Google Docs but far more secure, especially if used with a password (but it is not as user friendly). Use Cryptpad for any restricted information like plans or lists of participants, and always save these with a password.

Document Format & Structure

Document Specs template

Try to include as many of these as you can at the top of your docs, but not all are compulsory. E.g. If the status of a doc is ‘finished’ (and is for an event/specific rebellion) it may not always require a timeline.

Date Created:			DD/MM/YY
Author: 				Name and role
Contributors:			Names and roles or groups / circles
Stakeholders: 			Names and roles or groups / circles
Intended distribution:  Groups, circles, people - or "Do not share!"
Status: 				FINISHED/DRAFT/IN PROGRESS/Safe enough to try
Purpose: 				To do this, that or the other
Timeline:				For this week/that month/that duration
Feedback:				Please use comments/email mail@mail.mail

Style Guide

When information is consistent in visual appearance, language and formatting, it is easier to understand and disseminate. It becomes instantly recognisable as the XR voice and it fits within the wider context of the movement, lending it strength.

Design

See the Design Programme for fonts, logos, colours, images, icons etc.

Be consistent in the name and image used for the event/action across all platforms.

Accessibility

Consider accessibility: It is key in reaching as many people as possible and growing our movement. Mention where people can find out more about physical accessibility.

Write for a teenager for whom English is second language. Keep sentences short and use plain English, not academic terminology. Don’t assume knowledge, for example make clear what abbreviations stand for.

See Accessible documents & outreach materials for advice on making your communication accessible, including for considering colour blindness and dyslexia.

Banner Images

E.g. for social media posts and messaging apps

Spelling and grammer

This may not matter for some people, but for the rest, it is enough for them to abandon reading our posts. And for many it’s simply good manners.

When writing anything as XR, avoid:

Commonly misspelt words:

Know the difference between:

Use apostrophes accurately or don’t use them at all.

Time

Messaging app messages

General

Headings

Put the message title in CAPS. Putting the title in bold or framed by emojis doesn’t translate well when it’s shared across channels (eg. from telegram to signal or phone to laptop view)

Images

Example images

Example broadcast header image 1.jpg

Example broadcast header image 2.jpg

Emojis

Lists