Our "Communications Officer" in Brussels HQ!
I once heard that the average person produces 200 times more information nowadays than 25 years ago.
I have to admit I dismissed that idea quite fast because ironically, it was just “yet-another-information” I had to process in a world of constant information bombardment.
But I think I finally grasp it. And more importantly, I think I finally grasp why.
We live in a world where everything is changing; everyone aspires to create, to innovate and do more, better and faster. Yes, this brings renew into my life and keeps me constantly curious, but sometimes there is just too much. Gradually, I end up missing out some of the great things that have been happening because they haven’t been targeted directly to me or because they haven’t been bolded enough to stand out in the ocean of facts!
And this applies to the information I publish too. As it is becoming easier to share what we do, it is becoming harder to be heard. Even my fact about information must be outdated by now: our information production is probably increasing exponentially!
But in a world dependent on communications, what is the point of doing great things if you cannot make them be heard?
This is the problem we’ve been tackling at the Greenlight for Girls headquarter this summer. I had always loved our cause because to me, it rhymed with making learning fun; something I had always dreamt of doing. However, I felt like we were missing a piece of the puzzle: sharing. Although incredible changes had been going on, not enough people knew – and were amazed - that Melissa and the team had taken G4G across more borders and towards new projects! A project to be broadcasted on the radio, new events coming up in Jordan, in New York, new fund raising techniques with Global Giving were, amongst others, things to get excited about on the web.
But also, with the help of today’s social media, we could not only make science fun all over the world event by event, we could also do this with the web.
So we set up a communications plan of attack: consistency. We created a schedule by which our followers are updated every day with a daily dose of science fun, making G4G a reliable and share-able social media source – both on Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, for our audience to always have something to look forward to, we created quirky themes for every day of the week:
"Media Mondays" brings forth current science news and quirky jokes to brighten & inspire the mood for the week; "Talkin’bout us Tuesdays" is an update about the ongoing projects of G4G;
"Woman of the week Wednesdays" talks about a woman in science or in a leadership role that we found inspiring;
"Throwback Thursdays" is a day when we remembered the road that led to G4G today;
"Funfact Friday" is a crazy science fun fact or a piece of science news that caught our eye;
"Stressless Saturday" brings more science fun to the table in all shapes and forms;
"Sunday Funday" is DIY experiments, cool homemade ideas and recipes to fill your Sunday.
Our website was also redesigned to be a reliable source of news and visual media, reporting on all of our recent events and presenting a detailed schedule of our future projects. Other interns are also busy taking that idea further, creating a youtube page and a colourful Instagram account for G4G.
And today, despite all of the challenges of our information world, this great communications adventure goes on… keeping us busy and late in the office, making us more eager than ever to make our voices be heard! But in the end, YOU are a part of this adventure too. With every time you like our pages, share our posts, retweet our enthusiasm and just talk about us to the people you love, YOU keep giving a green light for science to girls around the world.
