· Levels of engagement ·
I've recently come across a blog post by Nicholas Street titled "E-campaigning will lead to a stronger democracy". In the post, he added this chart:
It is in some ways very similar to my own chart on the levels of engagement for online activism, below:
In both charts, the assumption is made that online campaigners are trying to engage those that are already sympathetic to the cause, not those that are apathetic or disagree with the cause's aims. Although there is some disagreement between the charts, the general principle is the same, which means I must be on the right track :)
In my levels of engagement chart, a simple action involves befriending (e.g. MySpace), subscribing, forwarding and/or learning. An easy action involves blogging, signing petitions, protesting and/or wearing a badge/shirt/wristband. A specific action involves donating, volunteering, finding events to attend, downloading and using online materials offline and/or creating and uploading video/images. Once you become an active member, you are doing offline actions more than online actions.
Now there's one slight problem for us online campaigners in all of this, and that's how do we move supporters and activists from one point on the chart to the next? Particularly up the "sympathisers" end, it can be very difficult to move people along to the next level of engagement. I believe such committment needs to come from each individual, after all we're not like priests "converting" people, all we can do is provide people with information and tools because people will be more committed once they can relate to a cause through personal experience rather than be guilt-tripped into participation :) Feel welcome to debate this with me, though.
Anyway, I think that the best way to encourage supporters to become activists is simply to ask them how they want to be more involved. Sometimes when I do this, they are honoured that I've asked. Other times, they apologise that they can't help right now because of personal circumstances. Nobody has abused me yet, so I'll remain with this strategy for now and will let you know in time how I get on!
Thursday December 13, 2007
Categories: Campaigning
Commenting is closed for this article.
Heya – I think the answer to your question: “Now there’s one slight problem for us online campaigners in all of this, and that’s how do we move supporters and activists from one point on the chart to the next?” is “we can’t”.
You nail it when you say “people will be more committed once they can relate to a cause through personal experience rather than be guilt-tripped into participation”.
What brings people to the next level is peers or personal experience, or a “rising tide” effect where they learn enough about a topic and feel strongly enough to go “enough – I’m going to do something”.
As you say, guilt-tripping has the opposite effect – it will push your supporters away, not get them to take up your cause.
— Grant 14 December 2007 #
Thanks for the response – it’s interesting to see an alternative design. The graph I posted was essentially taken from a research project by the BBC called Participate Online. This research also offered some more ideas on what the motivators and barriers to participation are, which might help in thinking about how to “move people from one point in the chart to the next”. – http://nicholasstreet.org/blog/2007/12/14/how-do-we-turn-sympathisers-into-activists/
I didn’t comment much on the “guilt-trip” issue, which is perhaps a flaw. However, I don’t think everyone needs guilt-tripping to move along the chart. Conversely some people are actively looking to increase their participation, and communities are a great way of supporting them on this journey.
— Nicholas Street 14 December 2007 #