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The New York Times
June 3, 1999

Flash Campaigns: Online Activism at Warp Speed

By Rebecca Fairley Raney

In the swell of online political activism these days, whether the issue is children with guns or Kosovo, cutting-edge campaigns are posting a directive as powerful as any slogan:

"This campaign is based solely on word of mouth. It's CRUCIAL that you tell others. To transmit a brief letter to your e-mail circle, just click here."

So-called "flash campaigns," focused on hot news topics and making use of e-mail chain letters and online petitions, are erupting on the Internet. Though crises have always boosted the visibility of advocacy groups, cheap online mobilization changes the equation. With the Internet, anyone can be an advocate.

The Internet is inspiring groups and individuals who have never run issue-oriented campaigns before. And with the arrival of the newcomers comes a slight fear that the role of traditional advocacy groups could fade if they fail to keep up.

"They could be marginalized by these independent innovators," said Jillaine Smith, a senior associate with the Benton Foundation who tracks online advocacy. "I would like to see the more established organizations follow the example of the innovators. The challenge is to break out of that box."

One of the most visible examples of a flash campaign is an effort called www.MoveOn.org. It was started last September by Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, a married couple from Berkeley, Calif., who had been largely uninvolved in politics. They set up an online petition calling for Congress to censure President Clinton and move on in the aftermath of the Monica Lewinsky affair.

The couple sent 100 e-mail messages to friends and family asking them to add their names to the petition and forward the message to others. In the course of a few months, they gathered more than 500,000 names. People also pledged to donate $13 million next year to candidates running against members of Congress who tried to impeach the President.

MoveOn received extensive media coverage, but even so, the couple says that fully 90 percent of the people who added their names to the petition heard about it through the e-mail campaign.

After the high-school shootings in Littleton, Colo., Blades and Boyd reactivated their list of supporters to back a gun-control campaign. Their latest petition now has 70,000 signatures, most of them added in the first week of the campaign. Visitors to the site can also fire off e-mail to their representatives in Congress. For Congressional offices that do not take e-mail, notes are sent by fax or postal mail.

During the impeachment turmoil, Blades had to start from scratch, but this time around, she had an instant list of 300,000 people to notify. The creation of that list cost practically nothing.

"It really was just $89.50 to put up a Web site," Blades said.

The Libertarian Party, which had earlier focused solely on backing candidates, has seen similar success with issue-based online campaigning.

As a result of the party's first online effort in March, 171,000 people sent e-mail to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, protesting a proposed rule that would allow banks to closely monitor customers' financial transactions. That represented about 83 percent of the e-mail that was sent to the agency on the issue. The FDIC dropped the proposal, citing the flood of e-mail.

Fresh from their first success, the Libertarians launched an anti-war site at www.stopthewarnow.org in late April.

Steve Dasbach, national director of the party, said that in the past, the Libertarians had issued press releases stating their positions, but they had no ability to do more until the Internet came along.

In addition to building support for the party, Dasbach said, "we're trying to provide opportunities for people who already oppose the war."

In the first week, 1,000 people a day were sending e-mail to their representatives in Congress through the site, and more than 15,000 messages have been sent since the campaign's start. For constituents whose representatives do not take e-mail, the site provides a phone number or fax number for the local Congressional office.

Although these newcomers have been quite successful, the traditional advocacy organizations could still use technology to keep their edge among the innovators. Some groups have started investing in sophisticated technology that allows precise targeting of online supporters.

Ken Deutsch, vice president of Internet strategic communications at Issue Dynamics Inc. in Washington, put his company's targeting software into action in a recent campaign. Sponsored by education groups, the campaign pushed for renewal of the e-rate program, a federal subsidy for Internet connections in schools and libraries.

Visitors to the site generated about 11,000 messages between the end of April and last week, when the Federal Communications Commission approved $2.25 billion in financing for the program. Traffic to the site peaked when news outlets covered the e-rate issue.

That interest generated a list of supporters who can be mobilized quickly in the future. Individuals on the list will receive alerts, including phone numbers for Congressional offices, when their representatives are taking action on related issues.

This potential for immediate mobilization could change the way established advocacy groups work.

"It changes what you can do grass-roots work on," Deutsch said. "Real decisions get made in [Congressional] committees, and the advocacy world never knows what's coming up until the last minute. There's no time to create a new Web site and mobilize supporters."

The advantage, he predicted, will lie with groups that reach a base of online supporters quickly.

Whether Internet campaigning ultimately strengthens or weakens the role of established advocacy groups, the publicity surrounding flash campaigns has definitely caught their attention.

"You used to mobilize people to march and demonstrate," said Smith of the Benton Foundation. "Now you mobilize them to send e-mail. It's certainly a lot easier to participate. Is it as effective? Big question mark."

To Blades, the trend is healthy. During the MoveOn campaign, she frequently received thank-you notes from single mothers who appreciated having an easy way to get involved.

"It's enabling the five-minute activist," she said.

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