I posted here yesterday about the Great Bear Rainforest, and the coalition of environmental groups pressing for its protection. I mentioned their online petition campaign, but it turns out there’s more.
Darren Barefoot, whose company is working with the coalition, posted this appeal for online support:
If you’re keen to help beyond signing the petition, consider any of the following:
- Digg the petition.
- Email the link to the petition to your friends. Here’s a shortened URL for that:http://bit.ly/QnOJ
- Join the Facebook group.
- Submit your photos to our Flickr-powered photo contest (sweet prizes therein)
- Blog, tweet, bookmark or otherwise spread the word on the campaign.
- Watch, favourite and share this two-minute YouTube video about the project:
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Wahoo, double-bloggage. Thanks for the write-ups.
I will start by saying… I love the great bear rainforest and i love the folks working on and funding the campaign… AND this seems like rote use of social media. like an add-on not a strategy… these are the things you do… online petition and youtube video… ok done… do we really want to reward this behaviour? is it most effective use of non-profit dollars?
this reminded me of a post from Jon Stahl a while back. http://blogs.onenw.org/jon/archives/2008/09/01/contrarian-thinking-about-online-organizing
what do you think?
respectfully, j
Jodie: Thanks for your comment. I’m a little unclear on what behaviour you’re referring to? That is, are you asking whether social media marketing is an effective use of non-profit dollars, compared to (presumably) other forms of marketing? Or Aare you asking whether such a petition is a worthwhile approach to encouraging policy change in government?
In any case, I wouldn’t presume to speak for the coalition behind the campaign. We (being Capulet, my web PR company) are just helping them out a bit with the social media part of their campaign. The approach we’re taking here is pretty ordinary, but our remit is quite small and these tactics have proven effective in the past.
hey Darren,
to be clear, i am not judging the value of your work specifically (sorry if it came across that way), AND i realize the importance of putting pressure on decision makers to move the the GBR implementation forward
rather…
the larger question for me is… how effective is it for BC enviro non-profits to be investing dollars in social media campaigns to further their inside game campaigns rather than generating campaigns that inspire new innovative forms of mass organizing and citizen engagement that social media could then lift? what worries me at a movement level is that folks may invest in social media and put a check beside citizen mobilization. that is not what is needed in the province at this moment in history. the bc enviro movement has yet to innovate and show leadership to capitalize on the shift in awareness around global warming and economic crisis. they do not have a people powered movement they are speaking for. this is where i would like to see resources invested… on campaigns that can build real power in the province and where social media could help to light a fire. i am really worried that we are going to get better websites, blogs, more petition apps, facebook groups and causes powering the same old campaigns that are not getting traction. this example was just an instance that brought my fears to the surface. so again, this is not a reflection on your good work serving the campaign… but an inquiry into and frustration around how and where the movement is focusing their resources and energy.