18 Policy Brief No. 93 Toda Peace Institute 12. Digital Social Marketing of Peace Narratives Peacebuilding organisations have traditionally relied on books and journals as their main communication format. Many peacebuilding groups have developed some sort of web presence, usually a simple website, in the last twenty years. New forms of digital content such as hashtags, memes, GIFs, social media quizzes and surveys, and digital storytelling videos provide low-cost methods for peacebuilding organisations to advertise peacebuilding skills, values, and processes. Social marketing is the idea of using business marketing concepts to sell a new behaviour, attitude, or awareness about a social concern or service by increasing engagement and traffic. A digital marketing campaign is an online strategy to promote a business's product. Strategic communications planning tools can help peacebuilding organisations market their work. In 2020, the Toda Peace Institute is planning a ��Digital Peace Factory” contest to spur crowdsourced digital content in the form of new hashtags, memes, videos, digital quizzes, or games that can model communication skills and support the broader goals of social justice, coexistence, tolerance, social cohesion, and peace.69 13. Modeling Digital Listening and Communication Skills Some peacebuilding groups aim to support, train, and/or amplify effective digital communication. This approach is further detailed in a Toda Peace Institute policy brief to follow entitled “Digital Communication Skills: Beyond Counterspeech to Peacebuilding & Civic Engagement.” Digital communication skills include active listening, paraphrasing, identifying common ground, expressing curiosity and a desire to learn about people who are different. These methods are not simply “nice” or kind. These communication methods are more likely to contribute toward shifts in understanding and action. For example, “digital listening” is a skill that helps people to feel heard and understood. Human beings have a desire to be understood, and conflict behaviour often escalates when people do not feel heard. The Listening Café by the Listening Campaign designs a process to “go beyond simply letting participants take turns talking to instead allow participants to take turns being fully heard and understood.”70 The American Listening Project creates a space for Americans to listen across the political divide.71 And #ListenFirst Project aims to start a movement to mend our frayed social fabric by building relationships and bridging divides one conversation at a time.”72 The HearMe app enables people in need to connect with someone who is willing to simply listen and empathise with others. The website 7 Cups of Tea “provides free, 24/7 emotional support to millions via online chat. We want to make sure nobody has to face their problems alone. Having someone like you to listen can be all it takes to make a real difference.” 73 See the Toda Peace Institute for more information at https://toda.org See the Listening Café website for more information at http://listeningcampaign.com/listeningcafe 71 See the American Listening Project website for more information at https://american-listening-project.org/ 72 See the Listen First Project website for more information at http://www.listenfirstproject.org/ 73 See the 7 Cups of Tea website at https://www.7cups.com/ 69 70