Latest Developments in WhatsApp to Build Power

While emails may be opened 20% of the time, WhatsApp messages are read 98% of the time. 75%+ of people in most European countries use WhatsApp. As one of the most used apps, campaigners use WhatsApp creatively to build people power: from creating different groups for language access and geographic locations to using the new feature – WhatsApp Communities – to being able to message hundreds of people privately and individually in one hour, to fundraising and managing volunteers. There is so much we can do. Learn how campaigners use WhatsApp and tools to build and win campaigns for change. The course covers mainly European examples. The content is relevant to all regions globally except for some of the European tool comparisons.

What's covered:

• What WhatsApp is best for
• Using broadcast lists versus groups versus Communities
• Building and managing a team of WhatsApp group volunteers
• Managing multiple groups and making it easy to join them
• Designing content to drive sharing and action-taking
• Calls to action that work
• A low-cost tool to do mass personalized messaging to a list of WhatsApp users
• Comparison of tools to manage messaging for more extensive campaigns
• When a WhatsApp chatbot might be helpful, how they work and what they cost
• Developments in multi-admin access and how to manage one account across a team
• How to manage risk, especially under state-sponsored surveillance and when to use Telegram or Signal instead
• Security settings, and how to turn off data-sharing with Facebook

Photo credit: Healthcare action by We Own It, London, March 2023. Credit: Dr Tony O’Sullivan.