While it is important to use language strategically to expand an organization’s support base and build key partnerships, it is just as vital to ensure that the language used builds an image and profile activists  can rally behind. Social media users from Black Lives Matter highlight the importance of digital platforms for “telling OUR story,” as one activist puts it, and in this way countering the narratives coming from mainstream media platforms. Particularly important in countering mainstream narratives is the possibility of presenting a story that shifts from binary (us/them, good/bad) to non-binary thinking about issues. 

In contexts with competing narratives, scaling is linked to how organizations are able to use stories or personal narratives to change dominant messages. One element of this involves building a counter-narrative via social media that shapes the mainstream narrative or compels opposing forces to shift their own story. For instance, a number of Black Lives Matter activists use social media to present a picture of their work that can counter negative perspectives disseminated by news outlets. One set of Black Lives Matter activists emphasize,

When you have a news organization that tells your story from their lens, then there’s misinformation. They use the one less important sound bite, the one that really captures your thoughts and feelings. Social media provides us a platform to tell our story as real, as raw, as relevant as it may be, without, you know, the worry of, I guess a filter being put on, or someone else’s perspectives and biases.

Another way organizations influence the narrative of a movement is linked to sharing their honed and focused narratives in other contexts. Several Sadaka Reut activists note that they raise core organization messages around binational partnership in other organizations or groups where they are active.

Finally, telling personal stories is a powerful way of constructing key narratives and broadening the impact of an organization’s message. Robi Damelin, an activist with the Parent’s Circle/Family Forum in Israel-Palestine, notes that one of the organization’s most powerful projects is a Narrative Project that involves participants listening to narratives from across the conflict and reflecting on this experience. As she points out, the Narrative Project has application far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian context and can be used to spread a message about the importance of peace in contexts around the globe. Likewise, a Palestinian working on gender issues discusses the use of narratives as a way to recognize the relationship of personal experiences to a broader political context: 

We try to work with women by letting them discover their personal story: it’s a woman story, it’s a general story. And in order to change your life and your personal story and to affect your situation, we should do it also in the community level and in the society level. And this is how we start our work with women from this very personal level to the [level of] community empowerment and social activism.

An example of the power of narratives can be seen in the term “shared society,” which has become widespread in Israel to mean initiatives that promote inclusion, social cohesion, and civic equality. Civil society practitioner Fathi Mashoud noted that the term was first used by the civil society organization Shatil, and that now, “it became the term that’s used now by tens of organizations, nonprofits, even some semi-governmental organizations. The term ‘shared society’ became a term accepted by many people.” Mashoud notes that the narrative of a “shared society” that involves joint Jewish-Palestinian work and initiatives in Israel is important because it has resulted in substantive changes in civil society work towards equality and inclusiveness. 

Challenges you may encounter using this tool

• Narratives can be a compelling way to get the message out, but narratives do not always come across to followers or the public in the intended way. Activists should be prepared to adjust the narrative if a particular story or slogan is falling flat or being misinterpreted. 

• Narratives can sometimes produce a current or ripple that runs counter to organizations’ other goals. For example, those with more “radical” narratives may find it hard to formalize into a registered organization or established entity if the powers that be feel threatened or subverted by the narrative.

• Honing the organization’s narrative will inevitably require iteration and testing in different contexts. Unfortunately, earlier iterations may not resonate with new followers, making recruitment and other forms of gathering support more challenging at first.