The out-of-left-field rise of Internet darling Howard Dean in the 2004 Democratic presidential race had talking heads buzzing. Headlines screamed about the coming Internet Revolution.” The entire paradigm of politics seemed to be changing.
But then a funny thing happened: Dean lost, badly. All the heat he generated on the Internet wasn’t enough to get him to the finish line.
Similarly, when MoveOn.org exploded on to the advocacy landscape, there were claims of fundamental and sweeping change for issue campaigns. But MoveOn’s efforts didn’t always sway policymakers, including the President and the Congress when they debated the start of the war in Iraq.
Strangely, Dean’s and MoveOn.org’s losses provide the perfect microcosms for the power and perils of electronic advocacy, or e-advocacy.
At least for now, online efforts have to be integrated with a strong ground game. Otherwise, e-advocacy is simply a clever diversion. The tried-and-true principles learned over decades of face-to-face, hand-to-hand advocacy must still guide us: What do you want to accomplish? Who do you need to influence? What is the timeframe for action?
E-advocacy is not a panacea, but it is a powerful way to reach around the limitations of the traditional media and shoe-leather advocacy campaigns. Done right, e-advocacy is a buttress, a tool to increase the impact and efficacy of a traditional campaign.
Increasingly, e-advocacy is a powerful way to reach out to too-often-ignored constituents, particularly low-income communities and communities of color. As the digital divide began shrinking and e-advocacy developed, the power of narrowcasting was tested and proven powerful. In 2003, California’s No on Prop 54 campaign coupled key messages with visual narratives targeted for African-American, Asian-American and Latino voters. The campaign sparked a tremendous viral marketing effect – which relies on original recipients forwarding an email message to friends and family – spreading the No on Prop. 54 message far beyond traditional audiences.
Targeted messages and innovative story-telling strategies are getting more personalized and refined.
Following the successful campaign for California’s Prop. 1C affordable housing referendum in November 2006, the non-profit Housing California gathered stories of regular Californians struggling to find a home. Through a simple “Share Your Story” page on the organization’s web site, those most impacted by the state’s housing crunch were heard – and political pressure was kept on policymakers to act.
Similar tools have also been used to unite disparate advocacy campaigns throughout the country. The Seven Days at Minimum Wage campaign, sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN, used YouTube and digital cameras to bring the voices of real Americans struggling on minimum wage to the forefront of the minimum wage ballot measures in several states in 2006.
Politicians have started to realize the potential of empowering voters to have their voices heard, too. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown used cutting edge technology to give a greater voice to Ohioans in his campaign for US Senate. Brown partnered with a company called Evoca to give supporters the chance to record online their stories of why they are voting for Brown. The voices of fellow voters can be far more persuasive than any television ad. Similarly, Barack Obama’s web site allows supporters to create their own campaign pages at my.barackobama.com. E-advocacy can be an effective way to give your supporters greater power and engage them in a platform to act.
E-advocacy can also be particularly effective in introducing new, somewhat foreign concepts into the public consciousness.
One of the most well-known and stunningly successful examples of this is “The Meatrix” a masterful digital cartoon dedicated to exposing the abuses of factory farming. The site mixes humor, pop culture references and solid facts to spread the word about factory farming. What it does best, however, is immediately link users to petitions, online forums, volunteer opportunities and lists of sustainable farmers all over the country.
The Meatrix is selling itself with impressive graphics and witty banter. But without the tools to turn that increased consciousness into action, the 10 million hits to the site would represent nothing more than laughs, not much more than the old Dancin’ Hamsters.
E-advocacy is more important than ever. The 2008 campaigns – federal, state and local – will be awash with new, exciting tools for reaching out to voters, advocates and supporters.
The divide between online and offline advocacy is getting more blurry every year, as the tools build upon one another. Facebook, MySpace and YouTube are already major forces in political and social organizing. The next significant advancement in e-advocacy may go online tomorrow – or may still be in development in a Silicon Valley office park or college dorm room somewhere.
However the tools evolve, though, the goals remain the same: getting your message heard and acted upon – both online and off.
Read the new PolicyLink report, "Click Here for Change: Your Guide to the E-advocacy Revolution" by clicking here. Also check out Judith Bell’s PowerPoint presentation, E-Advocacy: New Technology for Social Change.