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Activity 1: Key Informant Interviews 

Key informant interviews are qualitative in-depth interviews with people who know what is going on in the community. The purpose of key informant interviews is to collect information from a wide range of people--including community leaders, professionals, or residents--who have firsthand knowledge about the community. These community experts, with their particular knowledge and understanding, can provide insight on the nature of problems and give recommendations for solutions.

• What are some of the reasons to conduct key informant interviews?
• Think about an issue of importance in your community (perhaps the issue you identified in Activity 2). What are some of the questions you would include when developing a tool for key informant interviews?
• What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of key informant interviews?

Activity 2: Using Social Networking for Advocacy

Social networking focuses on building connections between people who have similar interests using a variety of networks that are most often Web-based, so that network members can interact over the Internet. Through social networking, ordinary people, experts, reporters, and so on can exchange ideas, debate issues, and motivate others to take action by sharing media links, videos, and other information.

• What are the advantages of different types of social media when using them to promote the work of an agency or organization?
• Select an agency or organization, and design a sample Facebook post and tweet. What is important to consider in these two different mediums?
• Visit the NAMI Facebook page. How has NAMI effectively used Facebook as a means for mezzo policy advocacy?