Audubon DoughertyMedia in Cultural ContextMIT Center for Future Civic

MediaFall 2008

Case study on the United States Campaign for Burma

New media for New media for organizational organizational

advocacyadvocacy

OBJECTIVES:

• To strengthen the position of the rightful leaders of Burma by cutting the political and economic lifelines of the ruling military junta;

• To organize and advocate for international intervention in Burma;

• To inform grassroots citizens, international media and policymakers about Burma’s political, social and economic crisis.

The mission of USCB is to build a broad based coalition of grassroots and institutional support for freedom in Burma.

What USCB does

• USCB Campaigns Coordinator responsible for all outreach & organizing

• update content on website (redesigned in 2007)

• create e-newsletters, online petitions, listservs

• manage social networking sites (6+)

• produce web videos for USCB site, YouTube channel, WITNESS Hub

• conference calls with activists

• face-to-face meetings with regional coordinators and student groups

• new initiatives: blog for lead activists; monthly webcast (Ustream)

Outreach activities

Measuring success

Effect of outreach measured by the number of:

•new members signing up + donations

•people contacting USCB

•responses to action alerts and online petitions

•new student groups created

•YouTube/Fanista video hits

•friends on social networking sites

THELMA YOUNGFormer campaigns coordinator for USCB

NICKIE SEKERANortheast regional coordinator and board member

SAM GREGORYUSCB board member & WITNESS program coordinator

Who I talked to

1) Distributed content creation

2) Leveraging Hollywood support & media coverage

3) Building grassroots activists through on- and offline communication

4) Utilizing social networks for spontaneous actions

5) Using digital media to mobilize people to act

6) Being realistic: understanding staff capacity

What works

1) Managing content created

2) Strategic marketing needed to promote media

3) Organizing can’t only happen online

4) Social networking sites serve particular purposes; fragmentation occurs

5) Limitations depending on audience, action, messaging

6) More staff is needed to continue outreach and organizing

Challenges

1) Distributed content creation

(pros & cons)

•Activists create & share their own photos, videos, t-

shirt

designs, other resources

•Message not controlled by organization

•Self-replicating

•Org picks & chooses what to use or promote

30 days for a million voices. Burma: it can’t wait.

The (viral) video campaign

•30 videos in 30 days

•38 celebrities

•funded by donor

•launched in May 2007

http://www.youtube.com/user/uscampaignforburma

2) Leveraging Hollywood support

(pros & cons)

•Fanista distribution/production partnership successful

•Cyclone Nargis hit simultaneously

•Many hits, but mixed reviews & lacked sufficient marketing

•Goal of PSAs: to get one million new members; got 30,000

(but still impressive, up from just a few hundred in 2005)

•Initial Jim Carrey video more popular because of media

coverage

3) Communication: online & off

(pros & cons)

•Sometimes simple tools work best (ex: Gchat)

•Face-to-face organizing essential

•Communication methods should depend on audience

•Haven’t tried coordinated mobile messaging yet

4) Social networks: Facebook, etc.

(pros & cons)

• P2P can be great for organizing quick actions

• Facebook not built to maintain long-term involvement

• Fragmentation of supporters impedes coordinated action

but can inspire different conversations and ways to act

• Need someone to update social network sites frequently

• Does large number of “friends” mean large number of

activists?

5) Digi media: can it mobilize people?

(pros & cons)

•Allows NGOs to reach new audiences more easily

•Not everyone is tech savvy; utilize those who are to organize

others

•Can make the org look very active; but can staff respond

when

people do mobilize and want to act?

6) Being realistic about resources & staff capacity

(pros & cons)

•Be strategic about goals & what to prioritize; one person

can’t do

it all, esp. with tiny budget

•Don’t be afraid to nix what isn’t working (ex: web forum)

•New video initiative: need more staff/volunteers to

implement

• Bottom-up organizing: org provides resources to guide content creation & inspire leadership; grabs key user content for targeted advocacy purposes

• Utilize “techie” activists in strategic ways

• Use online communication in tandem with face-to-face communication, and as a means to facilitate local action

• Social networks serve specific purposes: recognize their strengths for activism (spontaneous action, creating discussion) and exploit them

• Prioritize organizational goals, then allocate resources or make cutbacks

• Public relations strategy should be integrated into all org initiatives, on- and offline

• Stealing corporate, Hollywood or mainstream outreach strategies is OK! Do whatever inspires cause recognition, understanding & action.

Lessons