Families USA is an organization that advocates for affordable healthcare for all Americans. Their website is a great resource for staying informed on healthcare-related topics such as the proposed Medicaid cuts in the Ryan budget that are currently being debated in Congress. They have a web app that allows you to calculate the impact of the proposed cuts on Medicaid in your state. They even have a site for understanding the Affordable Care Act and potential roadblocks to its implementation.

We’ve chosen to spotlight this organization because of its innovative use of a Twitter app called “Tweet Your Legislators”. Stand Up For Healthcare is a project of Families USA featuring the Twitter app which allows you to locate Twitter handles for your US Representatives, Senators and Governor. You just type in your zip code, and their Twitter handles are displayed with buttons that allow you to Tweet to them using a pre-written Tweet.

For example, today’s Tweet for Ithaca, NY reads, “RT 2 sign .@mauricehinchey I am strongly AGAINST cutting $ for Medicaid. Protect this vital program cc @SpeakerBoehner http://act.ly/3r4”. This shows your support for the cause while also giving the legislator the opportunity to sign a petition and re-tweet the petition link to their entire following.

The verdict is still out on whether or not the “revolution will be Twitter-ized”, but social media is certainly claiming a place in grassroots organizing. At the very least, using Twitter to voice your concerns to legislators is a great (and now easy!) way to supplement more traditional methods such as letter writing and signing petitions.

Singlebrook is happy to share this story of technology for change! If you know of other great examples of T4C, we urge you to join our movement by sharing them in our LinkedIn Group: Singlebrook Technology for Change (T4C), or on Twitter using the hashtag: #SBT4C. Any tweets that use our hashtag will automatically get re-tweeted to our following.