JUNE 9, 2009

The New “Facebook” Of Lobbying

When I worked on Capitol Hill many years ago, if you wanted to share your opinion with your member of Congress you needed to sit down and write them an old-fashioned letter or look up their office number in the phone book and call them.   Times have changed, as Roll Call magazine pointed out earlier this week - now, you can contact your Senator directly through Facebook.

Today, lobbying organizations are using Facebook to mobilize supporters, open up discussion about political topics, and facilitate communication directly to Congress.  What used to be a small opening in access to politicians is now a flooded gateway.

I can’t help but think, does this ability to generate mass form letters to Congress or the White House really make a difference?  Personally, I have often supported the ONE campaign by submitting automated emails that are forwarded to President Obama asking him to end world poverty.  I know it makes me feel good to take 30 seconds and weigh in on an issue of great importance, and I hope that I am making a difference.  But am I?  At what point does saturation negate the impact?

I do know that when the first congressional office I worked in was inundated with thousands of form letters about a satellite TV issue, we listened (and griped about having to open all of those envelopes).  Building a collective voice, and the ability to do so quickly and easily, is necessary in today’s swiftly moving news cycle.  As referenced in Roll Call, the Democracy in America Facebook campaign to garner support for Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court seems to be working based on numbers.  What are some of the possibilities and pitfalls in this approach, I wonder, especially as it relates to companies and how they use Facebook?

In searching the blogs for an answer, I was intrigued by this example of a successful charitable campaign by Target identified by Su Yuen on her Bitbot blog:

Target wanted to donate US$3 million to charity this year but didn’t want to do it in the traditional way where charities receive the money and a picture of them holding a gigantic mock cheque appears in the papers. They wanted something that would capture the attention of youths on Facebook as well, and hence created a Facebook application on their page. In the application, fans could vote for their favorite charities and at the end of the 2 week campaign, the US $3 million will be split amongst the 10 charities based on the percentage of votes they received. Almost immediately, this campaign has given the charities MORE than enough reason for them to lobby all their supporters to get onto the Target page and vote for them. The campaign is now over but according to Inside Facebook, the campaign garnered 75,000 fans after just 4 days. 

In her conclusion, Su Yuen states:

I know coming up with a good reason for getting people to lobby their friends and organization members for your initiative may be hard as you don’t want it to sound too gimmicky either (and potentially end up ruining your company’s reputation) but if you get it right, you should have a pretty good chance of generating a lot of buzz around your Facebook page.

I would state it even more strongly.  There are some constants in effective communication, no matter the method used, and they include sincerity and transparency.  No matter the volume, the heart of it has to ring true.