Cutting through the clutter

I think one of the big challenges for online labor communicators is to provide content that'll attract a much larger audience than currently exists.

The internet truly has revolutionized communications my making information accessible to users worldwide on a 24/7 basis. In particular, the LabourStart and WINS provide a constant, almost-real-time source of labor news.

The problem is that while millions of workers now have access to info about the labor movement, they also have the option of visiting millions of sites that aren't labor-oriented - not to mention other corporate-dominated media like TV, radio, newspapers and magazines.

How can we create web sites (and other communication vehicles) that will attract a much larger audience of workers?

The interactivity provided by sites like this one and Purple Ocean is part of the answer - but I'm not sure that most working folks have the time or inclination to interact. Most of the communication is still going to be one-way. So technology alone isn't going to solve the problem. Ultimately it's the content that's going to bring visitors in or drive them away.

I think most union web sites need to be more provocative and entertaining.

By provocative, I mean taking a much more "class-concious" approach - if not explicitly anti-capitalist, at least harshly critical of capitalism as currently practiced. Of course the big stumbling block here is that most union members don't consider themselves anti-capitalist, and labor leaders who are have to tread carefully. But if the AFL-CIO, for example, stopped constantly using the term "working families" and brought itself to utter the words "working class" once in awhile, I think it would be a big help in shifting the terms of debate, and adding punch to the message.

In terms of entertainment, what if the AFL-CIO site (for example) included a daily comic strip - something along the lines of "Dilbert", but coming from a union perspective? If it was well done, it might provide large numbers of workers with the motivation to visit the site on a daily basis.

A variation on this theme - as more workers hopefully get access to high-speed internet connections - would be a "soap opera" - maybe a daily 5-minute video that relates an ongoing story about a struggle for workers' rights? It could be either a fictional account of a present-day workplace, or perhaps a "historical novel" about a period of labor history seen from a rank-and-file worker's perspective.

One final thought (though not website-related) - I think it would be useful to start looking at public-access television as a vehicle for getting union messages across. Here in Somerville, and in many other cities and towns, residents can submit material for broadcast on local cable. What if the AFL-CIO mailed out 1,000 DVDs of a labor news show every week, and activists got it on the air in 1,000 communities? Even if the show only had 100 viewers on each station, that would be 100,000 workers getting the news every week from a labor perspective.