I’ve been meaning to feature this great example of mobile activism for a while - finally figured out how to capture the mobile screens to show as well as tell.
It should come as no surprise that leading edge examples of mobile phone activism can be found in Japan. Keitai (mobile phones) have been a mainstream feature of society there for longer than just about anywhere else.
Mobile phone web browsing is approaching a 50/50 footing with traditional PC-based surfing in Japan, making it a significant platform to consider in all aspects of online communication. I recently sat in on a web planning meeting in Tokyo where equal attention was given to the both the PC and mobile versions of the web site. In fact, the two versions were being developed somewhat separately, with each version boasting its own unique interface logic and feature set. Far different from the “mobile site as stripped down version of the PC web site” approach that’s the norm elsewhere.
I was also given a demonstration of a new mobile web campaign from Greenpeace Japan that points to the opportunity and potential power of these devices in the hands of individual campaigners or supporters.
Greenpeace Japan has recently launched an anti-GMO (genetically-modified organisms) campaign, aimed at informing and empowering consumers to support GMO-free products and put pressure on the food industry to provide more choice and better labelling of GMO content in foods. Greenpeace has a handy printed guide to GMO-free shopping that consumers can carry with them and look up items while they are shopping, and this guide is also available to be browsed on the Greenpeace Japan website. Food items are rated with a green face (good), yellow face, (not so good), and a red face (bad) based on the presence of GMOs. (They also have the cutest campaign logo I’ve seen in years)
The GMO-free shopping guide is also browseable on mobile web, which creates the opportunity for a shopper to check food products on the fly, while walking up and down the grocery store aisles.
And here’s where it gets really cool … Not only can shoppers see whether an individual product merits a green, yellow or red face, they can also read background information about the source company that produces that item and in particular, their customer feedback telephone number (I’m sure you can see where this is going). Many Japanese mobile browsers are configured to automatically identify and hot-link phone numbers on webpages - so it’s just a one-button click to ring the company and leave them a phone message about just why their product is not being purchased today.
It’s a great example of consumer-empowerment, and food-for-thought on the potential for mobile-powered consumer campaigns as mobile web browsing becomes more widely embraced by North American audiences.
Additional features being considered by Greenpeace Japan include: a feedback function where users of the guide can submit their own choice of food items to be evaluated and included in the online GMO-free guide (and in the next printed edition); and a GMO-free QR code reader that would mean consumers would be able to scan the unique mobile-friendly bar code that are printed some products and get an immediate green, red or yellow face.
One of the roles I have picked up at Amnesty is helping to coordinate an intranet resource on online fundraising. One of the items that has landed on my desk, and is worth sharing is news about the SMS activism program that Amnesty Norway has been running.
The concept is simple enough - Amnesty Norway has recruited about 25,000 people who have signed up to receive SMS notices when there is an urgent action alert - about twice a month. Every time an alert is sent out, each subscriber pays 0.25 euros (so it costs about 0.50 euros each month, or about 6 Euros a year to stay on the list). Each time that someone responds to an urgent action note - about 10,000 do each time - then they pay another 0.25 euros. Amnesty Norway recieves about 50% of all the SMS fees, so this program not only generates Urgent Action signatures, it also generates a surprisingly large amount of income to fund Amnesty’s programs - about 100,000 Euros per year. It’s a real example of the cummulative nature of small (in this case, micro) donations.
If your Norwegian is up to scratch, check out AI Norway’s SMS Activism page for more details ..
The good folks at MobileActive have just launched the first of a series of strategy guides for using mobile media in social activism. The first edition, authored by Michael Stein, is titled Using Mobile Phones in Electoral and Voter Registration Campaigns.
This guide examines successful ways that organizations have used mobile phones in electoral and voter registration campaigns and shares lessons learned from these experiments.
Download the guide here.
This strategy guide series is a collaborative project linking MobileActive, Green Media Toolshed, Surdna Foundation, and NTEN. Look for more great material to come.
I’ve been doing some surfing to gather info on mobile/web trends in Japan .. found some interesting stuff that I thought I’d share here.
More to come ..
see:del.icio.us/irishg/japan
Here are a few thoughts on using SMS/Mobile-text devices for campaign engagment
SMS/Texting is considered an emerging media for engaging young/hip audiences with an organization’s campaign work. The commercial sector has been exploring SMS/Texting and mobile phone-based markets for several years and has built an active marketplace around downloadable content such as Ringtones, Games, MP3 files, screensavers, background graphics and even video clips on multimedia phones. These commercial engagements are centred on the point-of-sale/content-delivery model where information flows primarily in one direction - from vendor to purchaser. In this model, the mobile phone functions mainly as a purchasing/acquisition device that links the user directly to the vendor.
In the context of a mass mobilization campaigns, focusing on content download and delivery (ringtones, screensavers, games, etc.) as a form of engaging the SMS/Mobile market limits range of SMS/Text communications to being just another single-directional channel for delivering campaign content – reinforcing a communication mode that is a one-to-many push-broadcast model. Individuals sign up to receive SMS/Text-based information related to the campaign and over the course of the campaign they receive a range of different content, but it is all driven from the ‘centre’, and its delivery to campaign subscribers is viewed as the end of that particular transaction.
The commercial content-sales/push model is only one means yo employ SMS/Texting devices for campaign engagement. The social networking aspect of SMS/MobileText can be an important element of campaign promotion – one that reflects more accurately the way that SMS/MobileText technologies are used. Billions of SMS messages are sent every day, and the majority of these are personal messages sent from person to person rather than being content delivery based on commercial subscription/push models.
This is based on the core function of SMS/Texting/Mobile phone technologies for connecting individuals with their social networks – friends, family, colleagues, etc. – rather than being focused on information searching and delivery (as per the Web/Internet). SMS/Texting is more like Email than the Web – it is a medium for content exchange, not content delivery. SMS/Text should be primarily viewed as a peer-to-peer medium. In general, when someone is using their SMS/Text device, the most accessible functions they have available are related to sending messages to the people in their address books/contact lists.
Peer-to-peer messaging is an important opportunity for campaign promotion and mobilization. Social networking tools and approaches to campaign promotion can be used to tap into the existing SMS/Text/mobile phone networks of campaign supporters – engaging them as message-relayers and “sneezers†who will forward campaign materials to their contact lists and peer networks. ‘Send to a friend’ messages can be presented as a core action activity for campaign supporters, and mass networking targets can be identified and promoted to involve supporters in actively spreading the world about the campaign. Other means to leverage the social networks of campaign supporters can be tested through the direct promotions such as contests and points-reward systems. As well, active support for self-organized and locally-focused action groups and networks can motivate campaign supporters to be active message forwarders.
Here are some potential scenarios for promoting peer-to-peer social networking through SMS-based campaign messaging:
Scenario One: Identifying and supporting message forwarders (“sneezersâ€)
When individuals register to join the campaign – via SMS or Email or Web, they are asked if they would like to help promote the campaign by being special SMS promoters who would operate as viral message forwarders (“sneezersâ€) to their contact lists. These sneezers would receive special messaging related to the ongoing campaign, recognizing them as special campaign volunteers and supporting their role as important network builders
Scenario Two: SMS Viral Call
A campaign message delivered via SMS to the list of subscribed activists. This action contains background and instructions to participate in a special SMS action, but also contains a specific encouragement to forward this action to selected contacts in recipients’ address books as a way to help spread the word and make the campaign more effective. This form of campaign marketing is very effective – it can reach a highly targeted audience with little or no additional investment by the organization – since both the audience filtering and delivery cost are borne by the message forwarders. This form of SMS Viral call should be issued only at peak campaign moments to ensure the highest response rate. Optionally, a special message to could be sent to identified “sneezers†that instructs them to promote the campaign to their contact lists, and encourage pass-along follow-ons.
Scenario Three: Post-action chaining (sequenced actions)
When a campaign participant engages in an SMS action – whether downloading a file or texting a short code to take action on a petition, they receive a follow-up message from the campaign coordinators that encourages them to tell others about the action they have just taken. The message to be forwarded is pre-prepared, and requires only that the participant select the contacts from their address book to receive the special message telling them about the action, and inviting them to participate as well. An optional personal note could be added as well by the original participant.
On Thursday, June 16, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) launched a major publicity campaign across Africa, giving SMS users in 15 countries the opportunity to join the ‘world’s largest’ anti-poverty campaign that has already signed up many thousands of supporters in developed countries.
TV ads featuring African celebrities will be widely shown to raise awareness, and to encourage viewers to use cell phone SMS to join the campaign by sending the text message “say no 2 poverty” to a special number. The messages received will be presented to African leaders and to G8 leaders at the upcoming summit in Scotland.
> here is the full article on the GCAP website
Mobile-enabled politics are still far from true networked solidarity — and may do unaffiliated activists more harm than good.
Douglas Rushkoff at The Feature has posted a commentary on the state of SMS (Short Message Service)-bsaed activism, focusing in particular on recent examples such as U2’s use of SMS at concerts to get ‘texters’ to support anti-poverty campaigns, and the People for the American Way’s work to build a Mass Immediate Response system of SMS users standing at ready to launch SMS attack waves at right-wing Senators opposing progressive legistation.
Rushkoff recognizes the potential for short-term payoff in ‘activating’ large numbers of cell-phone wielding supporters who may otherwise tend to be politically apathetic:
These temporary, provisional affiliations seem tailor-made for this generation of activists: they get to take action, but they don’t have to commit themselves to a group or institution that might turn around and screw them, later.
However, Rushkoff is skeptical of the long-term effectiveness of these tactics in building stronger progressive movements:
These are not true bottom-up, spontaneous, grass-roots expressions of networked solidarity, nor even representations of groups willing to follow up on their stated convictions; they are simply instances of large numbers of people momentarily willing to take their orders from above.
