I’m starting a series of posts here to look at different aspects of engaging campaign activists and supporters online. There have been a number of interesting campaigns launched lately by some of the major activist and politicals orgs. It there seems to be a set of common practices emerging as online campaigners pick up on the successes of earlier efforts. So I’m going to start a list of what seems to be working, and take a look at eac oneh in turn over the coming weeks/months. I’ll try to point to best / worst practices, and relate back to theory when I can. Who knows, this could turn into some sort of working document …
Online engagement can be approached from any number of different angles. Here are a few of the building blocks on online activist engagement:
1. Campaigns are stories
2. Campaigns evolves over time and participants should be re-engaged in each phase
3. Participants should be visible actors within the campaign
4. Recruitment into the campaign should be active and assumed
5. New members/signups should be drawn immediately into meaningful action
6. Open source campaigning — allow participants into the tent
7. Participants should be encouraged to self-organize and generate their own activities within the campaign framework
8. High-value members should be identified and cultivated
9. Grow the activist base from within as well as from outside
10. Investing ($) in the campaign leads to greater sense of engagement
I’ve just participated in an inaugural podcast for the Fundraising Innovation blog. I sat down with online fundraising guru Mike Johnston for a 20 minute conversation about interesting new fundraising-related ideas/happenings. Here are a few of the topics we covered:
1. The Live8 concerts: why wasn’t anyone asking for money?
2. Wristbands or bracelets? Better ways to use them for fundraising
3. ASPs and technology providers - moving from innovation to refinement
4. Mobile phones: new fundraising and campaigning ideas from Eastern Europe
Here’s the URL for this podcast:
http://www.fundraisinginnovation.com/podcasts/vol_1_0705.mp3
To subscribe to the podcast feed:
http://www.fundraisinginnovation.com/?feed=rss2
The Live8 concerts on July 2nd set a new benchmark in global mobilization - Reuters reports that some 26 million text messages were sent in support of an end to global poverty. Many more millions of people tuned in online (the internet coverage was more extensive than the coverage by major TV networks) in what has already been billed the biggest activism event in history. For an overview of all the online and offline media lined up to cover and promote Live8, check out Katie Dean’s report for Wired.com.
So what happens next?
The organizers of the Live8 concerts have a larger goal than just creating a single high-profile event and have bigger politcal aims than just focusing public pressure on the G8 leaders meeting in Edinburgh in a few days. The aim of the global MakePovertyHistory campaign is to build a sustained movement to change the status quo of economics and politics that have kept the world’s poorest nations from moving forward. The Live8 concert has been just one step (albeit a big one) towards creating a critical mass of public support in the developed nations to put increasing pressure on governments to make the necessary structural and political changes to break the roadblock on poverty.
Bob Geldof and the other mega-stars who took to the stage at Live8 said repeatedly that they didn’t want anyone’s money - they wanted their voices, and they now have one of the largest advocacy lists in the world. For many of the millions who signed up during the Live8 concerts, the campaign is just starting. As the MakePovertyHistory organizers begin to use those email, cellphone and SMS lists in the coming weeks and months to activate and mobilize the global anti-poverty movement, the political pressure will become increasingly powerful.
Is that loud enough for you? No? Well, just wait …
“You might not trust what is coming out of the TV, but you take it seriously when the message comes from a friend.”
The Christian Science Monitor has posted an article on the use of SMS text messaging in popular political movements/mobilizations that have taken place over over past few years. The article points out that SMS provides an underground channel for uncensored speech in societies where traditional mass media is locked down, and that it is used as an organizing tool for mass demonstrations, such as in Lebanon’s anti-Syria marches in March 2005. The article also points out that the decentralized nature of SMS channels also makes them valuable tools for terrorists, and that they can be used to incite violence/rioting as in Nigeria’s Miss World Pageant riots in 2002.
