Since starting this blog a few of my friends have commented on the fact that some of my articles have opened their eyes to issues out there that they knew nothing about. One example is the case of the young children in the Philippines who were rescued by IJM from cybersex trafficking. Because of this (for those of you wanting to learn more) I thought I’d suggest a really simple way of getting regular access to these kinds of stories (other than reading my blog of my course!).
Quite simply my suggestion is join twitter.
Now bear with me because I know for many this is not am appealing social media outlet. I personally have resisted twitter for many years and used to be completely confused by why anyone would ever go on twitter. However, that was a complete judgement on my behalf and in fact I have been pleasantly surprised by my experience of twitter. In order to meet other human rights activists and learn about NGOs and the work they are doing I joined a couple of months and now think it’s a great place to soak up knowledge about international human rights issues.
I hadn’t understood that much of twitter is directly dealing with current affairs. I know that’s not the case for every twitter account user but you can pick and choose who you follow and therefore can decide who much social commentary you want and how much news and current affairs you want to read. Since joining twitter I have a daily view of what is taking place in the world and not just from international news rooms but from NGOs and important every day issues they are facing, along with personal accounts of human rights issues.
To set up an account you just enter your email address and create a password and a username. Add a little description of yourself or your interests as this will help other people with similar views follow you too. If you just want an opportunity to hear about world events then you don’t even need to worry about gaining followers, just follow some key twitter accounts that will bring you interesting news articles.
For instance BBC News is a great source of information, as is The Guardian (whichever newspaper you like to read normally The Guardian reports on a lot of human rights news), then follow some NGOs such as Amnesty International, Tearund, Save The Children and International Justice Mission. All you need to do is check your app once a day and have a scroll through-even if it’s just a quick look you will be amazed by what you learn. It’s very different to reading a newspaper or a news app on your phone.
I encourage you to give it a go and see what you think!
Lets Run The Race 