Mobile Advocacy

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What is Mobile Advocacy?

Mobile phones are tool to engage, organize, mobilize, and inform people engaged in advocacy and social action. They are an additional tool in the arsenal of technology by activists who are exploring their use around the world in civic action campaigns.

Mobiles are smart tools for advocacy for a number of reasons. You can find more at Why are mobile phones useful for activists and NGO's engaging in advocacy?

  • In many countries mobiles are the easiest and least expensive way to get a phone line
  • Mobile phones are far more pervasive in developing countries, much more so than the Internet
  • The growing infrastructure in even highly remote and rural locations makes mobile phones an accessible means of communication in the developing world, especially as prices of hardware and services are continuing to drop in many places.
  • There is a relatively low learning curve to using a phone, making it far more accessible than computers to a wider range of constituents
  • Mobiles are a highly personal means of communication that reaches the target constituent directly and immediately.
  • They are hence conducive to instant participation and response.


Strategic Considerations

Here are some strategy considerations from How to Run a Mobile Advocacy Campaign on the MobileActive blog:

  1. Mobile messaging should be about interaction, do not just pitch. A hard notion for advocacy organizations used to pushing email messages by the millions. Mobiles offer a unique opportunity for interaction. Advocacy organizations need to think about mobile marketing as a conversation, a way to interact two-ways with their constituents.
  2. Trust is key here as the mobile medium is so very personal. Gain permission and offer relevant and timely content.
  3. Pull people to mobile interaction through other media -- ads, billboards, the web and offer, in turn, mobile interaction with those media.
  4. Be careful about targeting your demographics and make your ask accordingly -- asking an older constituency to upload mobile photos is probably not going to be very successful.
  5. Be relevant. Offer timely news and functional updates that are of interest to your audience-- and be clever. Just by way of an idea: The American Lung Association could offer air quality updates via sms for where I live, for example. In Amnesty's case, I would like to know how many others are signing the petition and how it's going -- what are others saying and how successful is the campaign? Send me an sms with an update since signing on -- I have not heard a lick from Amnesty since I signed the petition two days ago.
  6. Mobile marketing works best when it's pull, not push, and there is an opportunity for people to express themselves - to 'talk' back, to suggest, to respond. Humor works here!
  7. Be multi-media. Integrate your mobile marketing and messaging into your entire media and messaging campaing; do not let mobile be an add-on - it shows, and it costs you if not done well.

However, along with these advantages come challenges as well. Read about the challenges here: Operator and Legal Environment -- Considerations


Strategy Resources for Mobile Advocacy

MobileActive Strategy Guides

استراتيجيات استخدام الهاتف الخليوي في إطار حملات المدافع

Effective Messaging

Costs


Case Studies

Many more case studies are available on the MobileActive blog.


Greenpeace

Greenpeace has used SMS in their advocacy work. From Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use:

Greenpeace was able to effectively advocate for the Ley de Bosques by building a large database of supporters. Through a form on the organization’s website, individuals were asked to sign a petition supporting the Forest Law, and submit both email addresses and mobile phone numbers. About 300,000 phone numbers were collected from this web form, and an additional 50,000 were collected via other means, such as email or through volunteers stationed on busy streets. This 350,000-number mobile phone list is one of the larger active mobile phone lists used in advocacy today. By the end of the campaign, over 1.5 million people had signed the petition supporting the Forest Law.


Human Rights Campaign

Human Rights Campaign used an infoline to draw attention to their cause. From Turning Shopping into Advocacy via a Mobile Phone on the MobileActive blog:

Ever wondered how Walmart ranks when it comes to supporting gay and lesbian employment equality? What about Starbucks, Coca-Cola, or Microsoft? Employment equality is an issue that the gay and lesbian community has advocated for for years. It has now moved into the cellphone age with point-of-purchase company information for conscious consumers. The U.S.-based Human Rights Campaign recently launched a new tool: An SMS buyers guide that that brings instant information about businesses' support of gay and lesbian equality straight to your mobile phone.


It's OUR Healthcare!

It's OUR Healthcare used a text-to-screen campaign to bring attention to a bill in the California legislature. Read Texting for Affordable Health Care: SMS on the Big Screen in California and Update on California Health Care SMS Campaign on the MobileActive blog:

California Activist Coalition It's OUR Healthcare has launched a new SMS campaign broadcasting text messages on a screen in Sacramento. The campaign is in response to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest health care proposal, which IOH says disregards issues of affordability, deductibles and coverage. The legislature is holding its first hearing on the issue today.


How-to's


Tools


Other References and Links

  • African Mobile Activism (pdf) Report by Fahamu focusing on "mobile phones, human rights and social justice in Africa."
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