We all know that social media have become a powerful tool for sharing and promoting communication with people. But have you ever thought that social networks can actually "rescue" people when they really need our help?
Walter Lara, Alosno Chehade and Rigoberto Padilla have one common characteristique: they all faced deportation but they were found to gain a great support through various social media campaigns. Social media platforms provide the means to these people, who call themselves Dreamers, to find each other without the need to travel, to get the attention of politicians, advocacy groups and lawyers and petition for an extension of deportation dates.
Let's take a deeper look at the stories of the persons mentioned above. To begin with, Maria Lacayo, a friend of Walter Lara, had created a Facebook group called 'Keep Walter's Dream Alive' just two weeks before the deportation date. There she was explaining her friend's situation. However, she never thought that the next day she would receive tons of mails and messages from organisations desiring to support Lara and suggesting courses of actions.
With the help of all these people and organisations and later through Twitter (2,000 followers in one day), this campaign succeeded to get the attention of not only media but also of the Department of Homeland Security on two days. In addition, Lara received a letter support from Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat. Just three days before his arranged deportation day, Lara received a deferment for one year that has been renewed once.
After the case of Lara, Alonso Chehade launched hiw own campaign through Facebook where he succeeded to get 5,000 supporters to send letters to local Congressmen. This had as a result his deportation to be delayed indefinitely after the support of Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat in Washington. According to Chehade, "The most important role of social media is to demonstrate public sympathy for people in his position".
The Facebook Campaign of Alonso Chehade
Based on Rigoberto Padilla who was also "rescued" by the Homeland Security through a social media campaign, the organisation that he is now working as a volunteer, has stopped six deportations since he started working there. We can notice that social networks play a pivotal role, indeed.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been found to be the main social media platforms that enable young undocumented people to find each other anonymously and increase support between each other. On Facebook, it has been created a page called Dream Act 2010 with more than 88,000 likes and on Twitter you can find information @DreamAct which is run by the Dream Activist group. Also, videos of persons are uploaded in YouTube, where they explain their deportation story. The role of the use of these social networking sites is to provide information and begin online petitions which are directed at legislators whenever a person has received a notification that he will be deported.
The Dream Act Campaign
In February, the Dream Act succeeded of bringing the media attention to the matter of deportation and the Dream Act query was presented as the number one question through YouTube's World View Program, which is a series of monthly interviews with the world's most important leaders where the top-rated questions are asked in exclusive interviews.
Nowadays, social media is highly connected with public relations since it can reach billions of people, build relationships with them and add reachness to the information that is provided. As we can notice in all of the above cases, social networks are not only used for promoting a brand, but it seems to be a perfect tool to enhance public awareness campaigns.
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