How can social media be included in Scouting ?
France

How can social media be included in Scouting ?

Every year, in the European Region of WOSM, the european Agora takes place. Agora is an educational tool that uses the Scout Method to reach the educational objectives for the Rover age section and which has a special emphasis on youth empowerment. It aims to be a meeting place in which dreams, feelings, concerns, experiences, ideas and paths cross together, are connected and shared; a crossroad that would be a source of inspiration and energy. This year’s Agora took place in Delft, The Netherlands, between the 19th to 23th of April. 54 participants attended European Agora 2017. As each event is focusing on a major theme on which the programme is built upon, this year’s theme was « How does Scouting evolve with its time. » We’ve been talking about social media and how, as a scout, can we use it as a tool to promote what we do. In this context, I presented U-Report : what is it, how it works and for which purpose ? I started by asking who knew U-Report and no one put its hand up. Hence, I started by explaining very simply what is U-Report : real-time mobile messaging program designed to give young people a chance to voice their opinions on issues that they care about. Then I explained the purpose of it : Through different channels young people can report on what’s happening in their communities, receive valuable information, engage on issues that are important to them, and be part of a global community of agents of change. I had some screenshots done in order to show them what it looks like. I wanted them to see how simple it is to become a U-Reporter and take action through different means. I mainly explained the one of Twitter and Facebook, because those are the 2 channels I use. I carefully explained them that there is « U-Report Global » which concerns the global/international issues but that there are also U-Report Live, meaning that U-Report adapts to their country issues. Everyone discovered something new, and I think they were very interested in knowing about U-Report. At the end, nearly everybody joined U-Report Global, and those who could joined U-Report from their country !

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