An Online Army?

Today I sent out bulletins on MYSPACE requesting members contact me directly if they were interested in being in our newly minted online army. I wasn't sure that I would get any response at all. Shortly after pushing the bulletin I got insanely busy and, though I didn't forget about my recruitment message to potential online union soldiers, I wasn't exactly hawking over possible results either.

To my surprise, a little later in the day I got numerous responses. Rank and File members of our union wrote that they would do what they could to help the union, and that they are proud to do so.

This is not the surprising part ... what did surprise me was that the medium, MYSPACE, reached so many union workers at once.

Long before I worked with the IBT I would suggest that all unions get a MYSPACE page to build out their online communities. A few liked the idea (and did nothing), most seemed to laugh at the idea.

Organizing a list of workers who are online, willing and able to help spread out the news, take action links, and anything else that we need to do online, is a lot of work. I, however, believe it is a simple common sense move that folks ought to be doing. As long as it doesn't become a total time-suck, it is a step (or a click) in the right direction.

So ... if anyone reading this has any added ideas on building this online Army of proud union activists, please comment back.

Thanks.