4) Team Lightship: Tweeting Empathy
In our introduction, we briefly understood an introduction to how social media-based marketing at 7 Cups uses a project called Team Lightship.
In this discussion, we will understand how the Lightship initiative works in terms of using tweets for spreading awareness, support, as well as 7 Cups content and other service information. We will also learn how the Twitter platform can be used to outreach to people requiring and in search of mental health support, in order to ensure that mental health is not ignored or stigmatized on social media.
(i) Using Tweets to Spread Awareness, Support, and Content/Service Information:
As previously discussed, the goal of Lightship is to use social media to reach out to those in need using kind and empathetic messages.
General tips include:
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What you tweet about should reflect the compassionate, supportive, and kind community that 7 Cups is. Use your best judgment.
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View your Team Lightship account as a force for good, and for spreading the 7 Cups mission and values.
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Feel free to discuss emotions, situations, and topics that often occur on 7 Cups.
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You might also want to post/retweet quotes or pictures, and that’s 100% okay! Just remember that reaching out to people should be a priority. Think of how social media graphics can be used in that sense, to engage people.
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Note: Lightship uses referral links (found on your dashboard page under the list of chats) to direct users to the 7 Cups site.
Tips in regards to which areas or services of 7 Cups you can mention (apart from the general fact about 1:1 or group chats!): Self-Help Guides, Expert Articles, Free Mindfulness Exercises.
Sample Tweets:
Having a tough time? Don't keep it all inside. If you want to talk, we're here to listen 24/7 #7Cups https://www.7cups.com/17156123 #MentalHealthMatters
Need inspiration from people who have overcome Postnatal Depression? Read these stories of women using their recovery to aid others! https://www.7cups.com/experts/postnatal-depression-recovery
(ii) Using Twitter to Outreach People Seeking Support:
The following steps are helpful ways to identify and respond to people seeking support:
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Search for Keywords
Some keywords or hashtags can prominently help search for people in need of support.
Note: The following and other mental health-related tags on social media platforms can contain potentially triggering content.
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Prominent Tags: need to vent, need a friend, feeling lonely, anxious, and depressed.
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Other Tags Examples:
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#depressed #anxious #depression #mentalhealth (high volume tags)
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#needtotalk
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#bullying
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#chronicpain #chroniclife
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#coping
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#peersupport
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#selfcare
Note: These keywords or hashtags can also be used in your own tweets to help ensure visibility and engagement.
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Reply to Tweets
After your search for important hashtags and keywords, when you find someone who has tweeted using one of those tags, and looks to be in need of support, reach out to them! Respond to their tweet with a message that includes information about how 7 Cups can support them.
Activity
Using what you learned about the Lightship protocol:
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Create one general hypothetical tweet that is supportive and compassionate.
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Respond to this Tweet using the outreaching tips:
3. Reply to one other student’s responses for both (1) and (2) and offer a review about their response: don’t forget to mention strengths as well as improvements they can make!
Please do not forget to personally save your activity answers as well as your reply to another user’s answer (recommended on Google Doc or other means) as you will be asked to share this for your Weekly Progress Report.
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This post is brought to you by the Content Development and Marketing Program, find out more information about the program here
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Ques 1: Create one general hypothetical tweet that is supportive and compassionate.
Ans: Feeling lonely? You are not alone. Everyone goes through some tough battles of life. 7cups.com is a free peer-to-peer community which connects people to caring listeners for free emotional support 24/7. We are here for you because #mentalhealthmatters.
#feeling lonely
#mentalhealthmatters
Ques 2: Respond to this Tweet using the outreaching tips.
Ans: I can completely understand. It’s totally normal to feel like that. I am sorry to hear that people’s careless behavior has hit your #anxiety. You are not alone. 7cups.com is here to listen to you 24/7 if you feel like sharing.
Hello, Tessa! Those are great Tweets!
T.1: Startting with a question is a geat technique, it heps to start conversation with a reader and keeps them engaged, so well done! Also, good job on providing details about cups, it is important that we set expectations. Imn the future you might add a call for action with the link, eg 'sign up here:'. The hashtags usage also is good, well realted and on trend, you can add more hashtags to reach wider audience.
T.2: I like how you used your listening skills to validate the feelings of the user, it adds trustworthiness to you later suggestion to connect with cups. You can level up this tweet by adding more power words and strenthening the promise. Eg: instead of 'here to listen' --> 'here to support'. Not everyone knows benefirth from active listening, sharing, thus our job is to underline it or use terms which are clear.
@SoulfullyAButterfly
1.Create one general hypothetical tweet that is supportive and compassionate.
Forgive people in silence those who hurts you and never speak to them again.
#selfcare #forgiveness
@Pewley
Hello, Pawley! Those are beautiful words of wisdom. Please always remember to add sources when you quote. Quotes are a great way to boost engagement of the account on Twitter.
This task is aiming for trainees to practice creating their own content. The goal of this tweet is to spread the 7 Cups mission and values, share the link to the site. Please create one more tweet which will meet the requirements mentioned💜
@SoulfullyAButterfly
2.Respond to this Tweet using the outreaching tips:
I am sorry to hear about your anxiety and people should be responsible especially during this pandemic else it will let the situation worse. I understand your situation and if you do want to talk you can connect with 7cups its safe.
@Pewley
Pawley you should have great empathy and understanding. I am sure such reflection will comfort the user. In the future, it would be nice also to add a short description of what 7 Cups is, like free mental health service. I like how kind you are in the response. I am sure the user would love to connect with you and share💜
Are You Feeling Down? Do You Have #Anxiety? Don't Worry We Have The Best Listener Community to help you. #7cups https://www.7cups.com/16435923
@Damonchandio
Hello, Damon! I love short tweets. In fast-moving SM we need to catch attention with few words. This is a high-quality tweet! The questions you chose are great, they directly trigger the user to follow up with the answer. Also, I like how you incorporated the hashtag into the question. You might consider using 'stress' instead of anxiety here it is very in trend. The tween asks to add a call to action to it, like 'join here'. With Listener Community, it might be more functional to replace with Mentalhealth support or alike, because Listener community is not precise enough to anchor user's expectations.
I Am Sorry About Your #Anxiety. We Have The Best Listener Community At #7cups. Our Listeners Are Trained, And Talking About Anxiety helps.
@Damonchandio
This is a nice variation of your earlier concept. When answering on Twitter it is Ok to make it longer than a Tweet. It is essential that we deliver what we promise, thus we need to promise carefully when tweeting. 'Talking About Anxiety helps.' is a statement we can not guarantee in reality. Such statement is better rephrased in form of suggestions it benefits we can 100% provide, like coping techniques etc.
@SoulfullyAButterfly
General hypothetical tweet:
Feeling lonely and wanting a friend to talk to are problems we all face in everyday life. That’s why 7 Cups provides free support and a place to vent as well as online therapy if you are feeling anxious and depressed. https://www.7cups.com #needtotalk #depressed #anxious #depression
Response to tweet:
I am really sorry to hear that you have been battling anxiety due to people not following social distance rules. I totally understand your situation and I know how you feel. If you need to talk, trained listeners at 7 Cups are here to listen to you. https://www.7cups.com #anxious #coping #needtotalk
Yours sincerely,
SheAlwaysListens
@SheAlwaysListens
T.1: Value is well specified. When we want people to click on our content it is important that we tell them clearly what to expect. You mastered giving details in affective, short form. I absolutely love that you gave a hyperlink, it showed your attention to detail and in SM it is a key. When Tweets are short, each small detail counts. In the future, you may try to rephrase the first sentence. Try to look at it from the perspective of a Headline. It must be engaging, catchy (better up to 50 characters).
T.2: You have should empathy and added amotion to the tweet, it is always a good move. I like the subtle link between reflection and suggestion to connect with listeners. The call for action would be very effective here, so you might consider adding it in future tweets. Great work!
@SheAlwaysListens
Hey! I really loved your take on this tweet. It's concise and it includes the hashtags! Well done pal! In the second activity, you also connected and empathized with the person through your tweet.
Each and every one of us goes through battles we don’t speak about but I just want you to know that we at 7cups are here for you! We have trained listeners, resources, and even licensed therapists to help you through any mental health issue, plus it’s free and anonymous.
#7cups #YouMatter #mentalhealth
2. Respond to this Tweet using the outreaching tips:
I am so sorry that the covid-19 pandemic has raised your anxiety. Though it’s not a hard concept, persons are still not following protocols so I can totally understand why you feel this way. At 7cups, we have persons specially trained in dealing with anxiety and they are always a request away and ready to listen! #YouAreNotAlone #covidsucks
@Lannylistens
Hi, I really like your responses! Your first one is very empathetic and compassionate, and I love how you mentioned many different ways that 7 cups can help (resources, listeners, and therapists). Your second response is great also, I thought the #covidsucks hashtag was very creative and relatable.
The one thing I would suggest is to correct "persons" to "people". It's just a small grammatical mistake, everything else is amazing!
1.
#needtotalk? I understand, I’ve been there too. At 7 Cups, you can talk anonymously to a volunteer listener trained to support you non-judgmentally. We’re always here to help <3. 7cups.com/112061751
2.
I’m sorry, I know it can be frustrating when other people aren’t social distancing around you during #covid. You can talk anonymously with listeners at 7 Cups who are trained to help you calm down when you’re feeling #anxious. The service is free and volunteer-run <3 7cups.com/112061751
@SoulfullyAButterfly
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Create one general hypothetical tweet that is supportive and compassionate.
Feeling alone and not able to talk to anyone? Don't fret. Listeners at 7cups.com are here to help and here to listen #YouareNotalone -
Respond to this Tweet using the outreaching tips:
I'm sorry to hear that you are having #anxiety especially during this pandemic. I can recommend a self help book to go through and 7cups has some wonderful guides to deal with #anxiety and #managing emotions.
Anxiety Chat Room & Free Anxiety Help Online | 7 Cups Help Guides
Help Managing Emotions | 7 Cups Help Guides
3. Reply to one other student’s responses for both (1) and (2) and offer a review about their response: don’t forget to mention strengths as well as improvements they can make!
Done
Hi @azuladragon34!
I love how you brought up self-help guides for relevant topics in case the person wanted to check those out. I would however keep in mind that twitter has a maximum of 280 characters per tweet, and no way to embed links into text. So giving breaking up your replied into what's known as chain tweet could potentially benefit your approach and improve it. :)
@SoulfullyAButterfly
1. Create one general hypothetical tweet that is supportive and compassionate.
Hey you! Do you sometimes feel like you have nobody to talk to? Whether you’re struggling with stress, relationship issues, bullying, LGBTQ+ issues, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, dissociative disorders, eating disorders, addiction or personality disorders, you have found the right tweet!
We want you to feel like you matter, because you truly do matter! Come take a look at 7 Cups, a free and anonymous source of mental health support, brought to you by trained active listeners. Give it a try! Here’s a link to take you to the website: https://www.7cups.com/11160426
#mentalhealthmatters #selfcare #needtotalk
2. Respond to this Tweet using the outreaching tips:
Hey there! I totally hear you about that! It sounds very difficult because while avoiding situations that make us anxious ends up fueling the anxiety vicious cycle, at the same time, it’s really hard to confront one’s fear and the feeling and physical symptoms of anxiety! I understand your frustration, people should care more about each other and social distancing is essential for this. I’d like to invite you to try 7 Cups, it is a free and anonymous source of mental health support, brought to you by trained active listeners. Give it a try! Here’s a link to take you to the website: https://www.7cups.com/111604268