Dr. DigiPol

As many of you may know, I have long argued that there are three escalating uses for the Internet in advocacy and political campaigns: 1) information dissemination, 2) action facilitation, and 3) strategic community building. I have internalized these three increasingly sophisticated uses of the Internet into the name of my firm, the Internet Advocacy Center, which shares the same acronym, IAC, as information, action, and community.

The recent rise in prominence of online social networks, to me, signals the popular arrival of online communities on the electronic frontier. Sure, online communities have been around since the birth of the Internet (BBS’s, LISTSERV’s, USENET, etc.), but those were largely niche communities, typically heavy on the geek side of things.

But with the onslaught of MySpace and YouTube, it is clear that online communities are now part of the mass culture. This makes me happy.

But before everyone jumps for joy about the arrival of online communities and their impact on advocacy and politics, it is important that we take a breath, step back, and survey the digital landscape. There is a difference between a strategic community and a non-strategic community, and understanding that difference is crucial for anyone or any campaign seeking to tap into the great sleeping power of online social networks.

I know many of you have looked at MySpace, looked at all those 50 million unique monthly visitors, those 100+ million profiles and thought, “Wouldn’t I love to get my claws on that social capital.” I know I have.

But MySpace and YouTube are not strategic communities. They are social communities where people gather for no particular reason.

On the other hand, online communities like Care2 are strategic communities. What makes them strategic? They are because the people who gather there are pursuing a strategic goal. In Care2’s case, they are 6 million progressive people who seek to make a difference in their personal lives and in public policy. They are there to learn about healthy lifestyles and to advocate for progressive policies.

And Care2 provides many tools for its community to achieve their strategic goals. They have a Digg-style news network, they provide ThePetitionSite.com for members to create their own grassroots advocacy campaigns, and they allow members to gather into more focused groups to pursue more specific goals.

That is very different from MySpace. MySpace does have sub-communities that take on a strategic purpose. But the overall community is non-strategic by design.

Now, while Care2 may be a strategic community, it has a broad strategic focus (note: it too has more narrowly focused sub-communities, like MySpace). But there are emerging more narrowly focused strategic communities. In essence, any advocacy group that is dedicated to a specific issue can create a strategic community from its members, should they desire.

And what is the benefit of such a strategic community? In these days when Congress is becoming increasingly immune to form email campaigns, a strategic advocacy community can break through the noise and deliver clear, personalized messages to lawmakers that stay on message. Because these activists are part of a community that cares about an issue, they will develop a deeper sense of their own personal stake in that issue. Having internalized their stake, all they need is the bill number and maybe a talking point or two, and they can be set free to write messages to Congress that are compelling and on point. One of these messages to Congress may be worth hundreds of form emails.

Strategic advocacy communities also provide advocacy groups with an intelligence gathering network of unparalleled potential. And if all politics is truly local, then the potential for members of these communities to launch local efforts, on their own initiative, can help to transform email lists into political movements.

So whether you call it social networks, Web 2.0, discussion forums, or online communities, the way people use the Internet has matured. Its no longer just about information and action, it is about people connecting with each other.

And when people use the Internet to connect with each other to achieve a strategic goal, watch out. Watch them pour into the streets to protest against proposed immigration reform. Watch them democratically topple governments in Spain, the Ukraine, and the Philippines. Watch people find the power that is already within them, as they coalesce into transforming forces of social capital. It truly will be power to the people, right on!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 26th, 2006 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Digital Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.