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General Terms and Actions

Since the mainstream media refuse to cover the majority of our work, the primary way we can share our message is through social media such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.

We use social media for the following things:

  1. To share the news about our actions, the effects of our work, and the work of others.
  2. To connect with each other and with those people and organisations with power.
  3. To organise together in groups and creating public events to share.

Boosting Posts

Therefore, it is key to know how we can effectively boost our posts so they are seen by more people. The algorithms on social media are such that the more popular posts appear higher up on the feeds. Thus, the more we interact with posts the more they are seen by people!

To intereact with a post, you can:

  • like it (thumb up)
  • comment on it (write a short text underneath it: give your opinion, say what you liked about it etc.)
  • share it (in a private message, on your own profile etc.)

Directing Posts at specific People or Groups

When making or sharing posts, it is best to mention specific people and/or groups. This directs the post to those people as well as their followers. Otherwise a post you make is only seen by your friends or followers.

In general this is done by “@-ing” or “AT-ing” a person. This means putting the “@” in front of their username or handle. Eg. if I want to direct a post at XRUK on twitter I would include @XRebellionUK.

Often when you first type the “@” symbol a drop down of popular accounts or friends will appear and as you type it will narrow down to the person you are aiming for.

You can tag a person in the text you're writing or in a photo (for Instagram and Twitter/X).

💡 HINT: keep a note of accounts you want to commonly “@” somewhere handy!

What is a Hashtag?

A “Hashtag” refers to the “#” symbol when used on social media. We have several hashtag such as #ExtinctionRebellion or #RebelForTruth.

Any phrase can be a hashtag is it starts with the “#” and has no spaces between the words. Often they will appear highlighted or in a different colour when typed correctly.

A hashtag allows you to tag a trend on social media. So instead of linking your post to the account @XRebellionUK you may instead what to include your post in the trend #ExtinctionRebellion.

Hashtags categorise content and help other people to find your posts. A common way to browse social media is to search for hashtags or trends, so by tagging your posts with one of these trends you are adding your voice to it and your post will show up in the search.

Tips about using hashtags

💡 Don't invent hashtags as you might end up being the only person using it so no one will be able to find your content that way. Use the search before to find out what hashtags are being used on similar content.

💡 To make your hashtags easier to read, you can capitalise the first letter of each word. For example, instead of writing #betterwithoutbarclays, write #BetterWithoutBarclays. This also makes your social media posts more accessible, as capitalised hashtags can be read by screenreaders.

💡 Only use one or two hashtags on Twitter as you don't have much space to write, but you can go ahead and use 10-20 hashtags on Instagram (put them at the end of your text so they don't make it difficult to read).

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