How you can support the #Oromoprotests through social media…

We all want to take action and condemn the violence and cold-blooded killing that the Ethiopian government is carrying out against peaceful Oromo students and protesters but may not know where to start. Here are some things you can do RIGHT NOW that will only take a few moments but will make a huge impact on getting international media attention for our brothers and sisters. There is strength in numbers! Our posts, shares, retweets, and mentions should number in the hundreds of thousands not in the low hundreds that they are in right now. The more of us that post on this topic and use the hashtags, the more difficult it will be for us to be ignored by the media. There is urgency that we take action now with all that we have available to us.

Social media is a powerful tool that we have at our fingertips but are not using effectively to advance the Oromo issue. It’s a tool that creates awareness and allows advocacy on a global scale, which is the number one thing the Oromo issue lacks. Let’s not forget how social media aided the Arab Spring uprisings.

As Oromos in the diaspora, being advocates for our brothers and sisters in Oromia is our one and only duty! Oromos all over the world, I urge you to take these small steps to getting the proper media attention for this issue. Our innocent are being killed as we speak, how can we not do something? The time is now!

Twitter Basics:

Hashtag- using the hashtag symbol # before a word or phrase will allow a topic to show up in searches. If you click on a hashtagged word or phrase, it will show you all other Tweets that have been marked with that hashtag. Through hashtags a relevant topic can be tracked and also become a trending topic globally.

Trending– Trending topics are those topics being discussed more than others. Twitter trending topics are automatically generated by how many people tweet and retweet a particular hashtag and where they are being tweeted from.

Mention– You can direct tweets to other Twitter users by inserting an “@” sign followed by their username (Ex. @CNN). This causes your tweet to also appear in the “@Mentions” section of the user’s Twitter account. A tweet that begins with “@username” will also appear on the home pages of followers who also follow the person you’re mentioning. For example, if @CNN has 3 million followers, when you mention @CNN in your tweet, it will appear on the timeline of the 3 million followers, as well as, in CNN’s mentions notifications.

1. Open a Twitter account, if you don’t already have one (If you do already have Twitter, help your Oromo friends open an account)

  • Visit www.twitter.com if you are on a computer or if you are using a mobile device, download Twitter from your mobile device’s app store (it is free) to begin
  • Once you’ve created an account, you can begin following users. Here is a list of individuals/organizations that have been actively tweeting about the protests to start with;

@Oromo_NT @OromiaMedia @abiy_atom @halelule @OPride @Jawar_Mohammed @dragabaa @oromopress @Gadaa @diasporiclife @IOYAnetwork @OromoNYC @Gadaa @Oromiantube

  • Start tweeting about the protests/killings but be sure to use the hashtags #Oromoprotests and#FreeOromoStudents in all of your tweets
  • Retweet others that are also tweeting about the issue using those hashtags
  • Mention news organizations by adding their Twitter handle/name to your tweets (ex.@CNN)

2. Open an Instagram account, if you don’t already have one (If you do already have Instagram, help your Oromo friends open an account)

  • Download Instagram from your mobile device’s app store (it is free) to begin
  • Once you’ve created an account, begin posting photos from the protests and the graphic photos of the injured and use the hashtags #Oromoprotests and#FreeOromoStudents in your photo caption
  • Also mention news organizations’ Instagram handles/names in your photo captions (Ex. @ABCnews)

3. On Facebook;

  • Post/share any articles/videos/photos related to the protests and be sure to add the hashtags#Oromoprotests and #FreeOromoStudents
  • Also tag news outlets/organizations by adding their name to the post
  • Post on the official Facebook page walls of the major news outlets and demand they cover the story. Here are link to some of the pages;

4. Make phonecalls to the international news networks and ask why they are not covering this story and demand that they do so. Here is a list of the phone numbers for some major news outlets to being with (it only takes two minutes to call);

TV & Radio

BBC America

Phone: 212-705-3300

CNN:

Phone: 404-827-1500

Al Jazeera English (DC Bureau)

Phone:202- 496-4500

ABC News:

Phone: 212-456-7777

ABC World News Tonight :

Phone: 212-456-4040

CBS:

Phone: 212-975-4321, DC Bureau phone: 202-457-4321

60 Minutes:

Phone: 212-975-2006

Foreign Editor: Chris Hume, Phone: 212-975-3019

CNN Washington Bureau:

Phone: 202-898-7900

FOX:

Phone: 212-301-3000

NBC:

Phone: 212-664-4444

NBC’s Washington Bureau:

Phone: 202-885-4200

MSNBC:

Phone: 212- 664- 3720

International Editor: michael.moran@msnbc.com

National Public Radio NPR:

Phone: 202-513-2000

Newspapers/News Services or Wires

New York Times:

Phone: 212-556-1234, DC Bureau phone: 202-862-0300

Wall Street Journal:

Phone: 212-416-2000

Washington Post:

Phone: 202-334-6000

U.S. News & World Report:

Phone: 202-955-2000

Associated Press:

Phone: 212-621-1500, DC Bureau phone: 202-776-9400,

Reuters:

Phone: 646-223-4000

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