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Issue Management Services
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| How can I use online communication technology to deepen and enhance my issue management? |
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Online communication technology allows issue managers to deepen and enhance the effectiveness of campaigns in three ways:
- Information – An issue manager can use online communication
to disseminate their message to their target audience. This can
include links to other favorable sources of information, as well
as original content.
- Action – An issue manager can use online communication
to provide the targeted audience the opportunity to take action
to advance the issue campaign.
- Community – An issue manager can use online communication to gather like-minded, supportive members of a targeted audience to create a self-sustaining support and action community around their issue.
Before an issue manager decides which "bells and whistles" to use online, they must make a strategic assessment regarding which of these purposes they need to make their campaign a success. While there will be circumstances where managers may want to limit their goals, more often than not campaigns will be well served by incorporating all three of these purposes. Additionally, many of the tools available online service more than just one of these purposes.
What are some of the online communication tools available to issue managers?
| What are some of the tools available for online advocacy? |
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Web Site – Everybody seems to have a web site these days, yet too often these web sites fall far short of their potential. In addition to presenting detailed information in a multi-media format, they can be catalysts for action and forums for building community. Most of online communication tools can be integrated into a web site. The key is to figure out which tools will satisfy the web site’s strategic purpose.
Email – Perhaps the oldest and simplest of online technology, email is still one of the most powerful tools for disseminating information, facilitating action, and building community. Targeted mailings can alert audiences to key facts and upcoming events. In addition to the actual text of the message, email can provide the audience with links to web sites that provide vast amounts of information and other resources. Because any recipient can respond to all others receiving a message, maintaining message discipline can be difficult with email.
Email Form – A form for sending email can be embedded into a webpage. This provides the opportunity to send a message to key policy-makers immediately upon learning about an issue, thus minimizing the number of clicks to action and preventing any loss of momentum that may result if there is any delay between message exposure and action.
Listserv's – A LISTSERV is an email list devoted to a particular topic or community. By subscribing to a LISTSERV, people can keep informed on an issue and become part of a community of others who share the same interests. Issue managers using LISTSERV's can distribute their own comments and links to other articles and web sites. LISTSERV subscribers can respond to mailings, but the moderator determines which responses are forwarded to the list. The moderator has complete control over the message.
Message Boards – A message board is an archived collection of messages devoted to a particular topic or community. Rather than delivered to email, these boards are housed either on a web site or on a Usenet host computer (Usenet message boards are called Newsgroups). Interested persons can read posted messages and respond, or post a new comment. The responses to messages are listed indented and directly below the original message. These subsections of the message board are called threads. Unlike with LISTSERV's, there is no moderator filtering messages before they are posted. Managers of message boards can periodically delete selected messages from the board, so message discipline can be reintroduced on a regular basis.
Chat Rooms – Chat rooms are real time conversations among any number of people signed on to the discussion. While originally housed outside the World Wide Web on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) host computers, chat rooms are now incorporated into web sites. Most chat rooms are text only, but audio and video chat rooms are now available. Any web site can include a chat room, but the most common chat rooms are found on the portal sites, like Yahoo!. Unlike email, LISTSERV's and message boards, chat rooms cannot be edited. A moderator can boot an unwelcome participant out of the room, but they can usually reenter under another nickname. This tool is particularly good at developing community, but it is difficult to control the direction of the discussion.
Chat Clients – Chat clients are software applications that run outside of the World Wide Web. The most ubiquitous of these clients are instant messaging services. These include MSN Messenger, AOL's Instant Messenger, ICQ (also owned by AOL), Powwow and Yahoo! Messenger. These networks allow people to instantly exchange messages with other people logged into the network. Some also support traditional chat rooms. Some support audio and video, as well.
Peer to Peer – Peer to Peer Networks expand on the notion of chat clients to allow those logged into them to search designated sections of other people's hard drives to find and copy files. The most famous of these is Napster, which allows people to find and copy music files from other computers. Other P2P networks, including Gnutella and AIMster, allow for the sharing of all types of files. Though the courts are sorting out the thorny copyright issues, the P2P framework will continue to evolve. Issue managers could use these networks to share documents and resources among a community of supporters.
Webcam – A webcam is a digital camera attached to a computer. When connected to the Internet, the webcam can be set to post a still photograph to web site. The webcam can be set to refresh, or update this photo on a regular interval, as frequently as every few seconds. Issue managers can use a webcam to let their audience see current events as they happen.
Streaming Media – Streaming media goes beyond the webcam to provide full-motion audio and video to the online audience. The content is called "streaming" because the video is displayed as it is downloaded over the Internet. Because streaming media requires more memory and bandwidth than webcams, people with slower computers and slower Internet connections may have some trouble maintaining a steady flow of images and sounds. Issue managers can use streaming media to deliver live events, as well as produced video pieces to their targeted audience. Video files can also be delivered in non-streaming formats, where the file is completely downloaded before it is played. These formats require longer a wait period before viewing can begin. The advantage is that once the file is downloaded, network congestion no longer hinders the smooth replay of the piece. Of course, non-streaming formats cannot deliver live media.
Wireless Devices – Everywhere you turn you see people using mobile phones and pagers to stay connected to their world. Now, personal digital assistants (PDA’s) are being wired to the same network as phones and computers. These networked devices can send and receive voice and data. Harnessing these digital media means issue managers can reach people, no matter where they are, with timely information.
Creative combination of these tools can create for the target audience a far more dynamic experience than traditional media delivers. When used in conjunction with traditional media, online communication can transform advocacy campaigns from information dissemination that passively encourages supportive community action to campaigns that actively orchestrate supportive community action.
| Who can you call for that extra expertise needed to make your online advocacy a success? |
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Even if you have a good understanding of the various ways to use online communication technology to deepen and enhance your issue management, it is always good to be able to call a trusted expert to help guide you and fine tune your strategy. That is why we suggest you call us at Stateside Associates. We combine the finest expertise in managing issues at the state and local level with a keen understanding of cutting edge online communication technology. Stateside Associates was the first firm to use the Internet to help our clients manage their issues across all fifty states. Now we are the first state government relations firm advising clients about how to use online communications to deliver their message to policy-makers and the public.
To learn more about how Stateside Associates can assist you in using Online Advocacy to advance your mission, please contact Constance Campanella at cc@stateside.com or call (703) 525-7466.
