# How Google Docs Became the Social Media of the Resistance 

**URL:** <https://onehack.st/t/how-google-docs-became-the-social-media-of-the-resistance/95460>\
**Category:** News & Articles\
**Tags:** social-media, documents\
**Created:** [July 7, 2020, 11:30am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/how-google-docs-became-the-social-media-of-the-resistance/95460 "2020-07-07T11:30:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Astrid](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/astrid/32/174869_2.png) [@Astrid](https://onehack.st/u/Astrid)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 11:30am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/how-google-docs-became-the-social-media-of-the-resistance/95460/1 "2020-07-07T11:30:47Z")

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![](https://wp.technologyreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/comp2_27123939818_3bc72159cf_o_web.jpg)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review:

_In just the last week, Google Docs has emerged as a way to share everything from [lists of books on racism](https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/mobilebasic) to templates for [letters to family members](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jJwrgAk923hTSHVNkqPo610FMBNrecWz04NCK55VMJ4/edit) and [representatives](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AKY8K2Mcsw32JIq41oVjXTU6u-nPIdvRoxEZEjzQWXk/edit) to [lists](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fb2cioBcCO47L_oGPsjdGVWDAc3RTHU2tIpDtekWKs0/edit#heading=h.1xjoly1h25g3) of [funds](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X4-YS3vFn5CLL9QtJSU0xqmTh_h8XilXgOqGAjZISBI/edit) [and](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gr1QeJcWXTZDpL2sryJR7YrmZJW9f67eMCHbl-aQWaA/edit) [resources](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/124mMAQKVcgz9lYi6k4U1dEQ0mIG_L1Gb9WrMIETfN6g/edit#gid=0) that are accepting donations. Shared Google Docs that anyone can view and anyone can edit, anonymously, [have become a valuable tool for grassroots organizing during both the coronavirus pandemic](https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/06/1002546/google-docs-social-media-resistance/) and the police brutality protests sweeping the US. It’s not the first time. In fact, activists and campaigners have been using the word processing software for years as a more efficient and accessible protest tool than either Facebook or Twitter._

 

_It wasn’t until the 2016 elections, when misinformation campaigns were rampant, that the software came into its own as a political tool. Melissa Zimdars, an assistant professor of communication at Merrimack College, used it [to create](https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/to-keep-fake-news-out-of-facebook-newsfeed-college-professor-creates-list-of-sites-to-avoid/) a 34-page [document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/10eA5-mCZLSS4MQY5QGb5ewC3VAL6pLkT53V_81ZyitM/preview) titled “False, Misleading, Clickbaity-y, and/or Satirical ‘News’ Sources.'” Zimdars inspired a slew of political Google Docs, written by academics as [ad hoc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DzOz3Y6D8g_MNXHNMJYAz1b41_cn535aU5UsN7Lj8X8/preview#heading=h.fwfuc1708kuz) [ways](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPghC4ra6QLhaHhW8QvPJRMKGEXT7KaZtG_7s5-UQrw/edit#heading=h.97o89pmf8ct6) of campaigning for Democrats for the 2018 midterm elections. By the time the election passed, Google Docs were also being used to protest immigration bans and advance the #MeToo movement. Now, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder on Memorial Day weekend, communities are using the software to organize. One of the most popular Google Docs to emerge in the past week is “[Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xa9Av-NfuFsWBHlsMvPiqJHdNedZgnCRW56qAS-7PGQ/edit?fbclid=IwAR373kEbAPlxjaa3g_F0TRFaTPB0UeiRJKSVSolwcWC5xw9kQidYb18iCn8),” which features clear steps people can take to support victims of police brutality. It is organized by Carlisa Johnson, a 28-year-old graduate journalism student at Georgia State University._

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**Author:** ![John\_Wellth](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/john_wellth/32/45924_2.png) [@John\_Wellth](https://onehack.st/u/John_Wellth)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2020, 4:25am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/how-google-docs-became-the-social-media-of-the-resistance/95460/2 "2020-07-08T04:25:29Z")

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this was informative for me. I wish there was more about how it gets from people to people in a practical situation