Welcome to DSA-LA’s social media resource page!
DSA-LA is proud to broadcast our vision, beliefs, and projects across social media platforms. We work with our local and national bodies to best craft messaging and promotions to broadcast to our followers. However, anybody who’s spent time on these websites can understand that they are complicated ecosystems that are imperfect tools. In response, we’ve developed a series of social media policies and structures to comply with our community agreements and bylaws.
DSA-LA’s social media projects are run by the chapter’s Communications Committee. The committee is organized by the Chapter’s elected Communications Director, who is tasked with developing chapter communications work and policy. If you are interested in using your communications skills to support the chapter, please reach out for more information about how to get involved at communications!
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our team at [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions:
What social media platforms are you on?
Right now, we’re active on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube! Follow us there! We’re working on plans to engage more with platforms like Twitch and TikTok.
What is the role of social media in DSA-LA?
Ultimately, the role of DSA-LA’s social media is to engage our current members, grow our membership and boost awareness of our organization and its efforts.
DSA-LA is a democratically-run organization that collectively decides how to use its resources. One of these resources is chapter communications, which includes social media platforms! As socialists, we understand that the best means of organizing the working class is through direct conversation and personal relationships. Decades of pretty words and platitudes from politicians and corporations have created an ecosystem where sometimes words alone cannot be trusted.
That does not mean that social media isn’t an important service for spreading our message. Rather, we’ve decided to use our platforms judiciously and selectively to make local organizing easier. We want to make it easier to spread the word for events and information that makes it easier for Angelenos to directly engage with DSA-LA and the socialist struggle at large.
Can you please share my post or event?
Similar to our policy of who we follow on our accounts, our decision of what content we boost is decided by democratically-decided-upon bodies within our chapter. Just because our chapter is not involved with something does not mean we are not interested in it! We only have so many people with so much time, and we have to make choices about what we can commit to. We always want to be doing more, but we want to do it well.
We invite any member to take up areas of work we’re missing and help lead our chapter. As a democratic organization, a member is always empowered to bring up things that they think the chapter should consider, and to try to persuade and move people in a direction. If you believe you have something you believe the chapter should be promoting, that we ask you to reach out to the appropriate chapter body who can help you broadcast your message or campaign.
All official DSA-LA chapter bodies should have access to an internal request form for social media requests and campaigns. If you do not, please email [email protected].
Will you post about a personal fundraiser or Gofundme?
Our policy is to encourage members to use chapter internal communications to share about personal material needs and opportunities for direct mutual aid. We do not boost these types of things using social media.
Why do Hollywood Labor, NOlympics, and Street Watch have separate accounts?
DSA-LA has democratically decided to allow certain bodies and projects within our chapter to branch out and create their own social media presence accounts. Currently, these are the only bodies connected to DSA-LA who are officially sanctioned to maintain their unique online presence. Each account has their own communications policies and teams, and their decisions might differ from the policies listed here. If you have questions about the relationship between these various accounts, please reach out to [email protected].
Started by DSA-LA’s Housing & Homelessness committee and LA Community Action Network, Street Watch LA is a coalition of organizers who fight to empower and protect the rights of poor and unhoused tenants across LA County. As capitalism continues to force people to live in the streets, Street Watch stands with tenants in the fight to end criminalization, increase public control of resources, and accelerate a socialist movement for housing as a human right. Projects including monitoring and documenting sweeps and building solidarity with our unhoused neighbors in any way we can. Learn more at streetwatchla.com
NOlympics-LA was launched by the Los Angeles chapter’s Housing & Homelessness committee in 2017. The coalition has since expanded to include more than two dozen partner orgs based in LA and California, as well as a growing transnational movement with dozens of groups around the world. Visit them at nolympicsla.com!
Hollywood Labor is a part of DSA-LA’s Labor Committee and part of their labor circle initiative. The account is run by members of the labor circle who are working to recruit and organize workers in the entertainment industry, both in LA and across the country! If you’d like to learn more, check out bit.ly/hollywood_labor.
It is rare for the chapter to approve separate, official accounts, although all members are welcome and encourage to use personal or unofficial accounts to promote DSA and socialism. People leading projects who want to begin a conversation about seeking approval for running a separate project account may email [email protected] to learn more.
How do I get involved with this type of work in the chapter?
DSA-LA Communications regularly hosts recruitment and info events for people who are interested. Keep an eye out for those to be posted on the calendar. Additionally, members who are interested in learning about current opportunities to get involved with this work can reach out to [email protected] at any time.
Does DSA-LA Communications have any job openings or internship opportunities?
We have a ton of opportunities to get involved and do work in our chapter, but none of those opportunities are paid, nor do we advertise any as internships or offer internship credit. That said, you are welcome to become part of the communications team! Email us at [email protected] to learn how to get involved.
I’ve tried to reach out via DM but didn’t get a response.
Our communications team is made up entirely of volunteers, and has limited resources and cannot always be checking our DMs to respond to requests. Many frequently asked questions are covered in our DSA-LA Member Handbook, our member sources page. Learn how to become a DSA member here!
If you need to reach out to the communications committee, feel free to email us at [email protected]. Additionally, our elected leaders for specific committees and bodies might be able to respond to your query faster and more in-depth.
I’m a journalist – how can I reach out for press related questions?
Please email [email protected] directly! We know that sometimes journalists are on tight deadlines, but we will get back to you as soon as possible. Please feel free to reach out, and we can work with you to create a closer relationship for future pieces.
What accounts do the DSA-LA social media accounts follow?
To reflect the decisions decided by the body, our accounts only follow other DSA chapters and campaigns, coalition and partner organizations, and locally and nationally endorsed politicians*. These policies are designed to clarify who our chapter has democratically decided to engage with, associate ourselves with, and communicate with.
If you believe the chapter account is following somebody who violates these beliefs, please let us know by emailing [email protected]. (Occasionally, due to platform issues, the account might follow somebody outside these parameters to engage in direct messages. These cases will be temporary.)
* If a candidate’s endorsement is retracted, or they fail to receive the chapter’s endorsement in their next election cycle, they will no longer be considered “endorsed.” Learn more about DSA-LA’s endorsement process here.
Why does some media receive credit and some do not?
DSA-LA is built by over 5,000 volunteer local members contributing in their free time. We organize across our chapter as a collective body, not as a list of individuals, especially because some of our members may face personal and professional reprisals if publicly associated with the organization.
We view artistic contributions as equally important to all the crucial work that goes into building DSA-LA, like the largely-anonymous work that goes into organizing meetings, providing organizing mutual aid, phone banking for political candidates, and so on and so forth. Through this perspective, the work developed by the DSA-LA media team will generally not credit the individual member who created it.
In some cases, however, if DSA-LA is given permission to share a project that is independently created where a creator will be credited or tagged upon request. At this time, DSA-LA Communications can only guarantee credit on initial posts that are developed in coordination with creators. We cannot guarantee that creators will be credited when their work is re-shared by other members or chapter leaders. We also cannot guarantee that creators will be credited when elements of their work appear incidentally in other mediums published by the chapter.
I still have another question!
Wonderful! Shoot us an email at [email protected] and we’ll try to answer it!