Photo courtesy of acf_windy on Flickr

When we first posted about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout protest scheduled for January 23, we had no idea that Wikipedia and Reddit (which had planned a January 18 blackout protest) would persuade other sites to join their effort yesterday. According to the Los Angeles Times, more [...]]]>

Photo courtesy of acf_windy on Flickr

When we first posted about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout protest scheduled for January 23, we had no idea that Wikipedia and Reddit (which had planned a January 18 blackout protest) would persuade other sites to join their effort yesterday. According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 10,000 sites participated in the SOPA protest by either making their sites inaccessible, or “blacked out”, on Wednesday or posting messages to encourage visitors to contact Congress about SOPA.

It appears their bold effort worked.

By the end of Wednesday, at least three lawmakers withdrew their support for the legislation – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) withdrew as a co-sponsor of the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) withdrew from SOPA, which is the House version of the bill. A few more may be added to that list this morning.

Google reports that at least 4.5 million people signed their online anti-SOPA petition during the protest. Even the White House received nearly 104,000 signatures on a We the People petition calling for President Obama to block passage of bills like SOPA and PIPA.

It is still too early for SOPA protesters to get excited, as support remains for PIPA and SOPA in the Senate and House, respectively. However, the success of the SOPA blackout protest thus far demonstrates how understanding your audience and using what they value to make them take action can spur policy change.

Internet users are constituents, and removing their access to content or interrupting their Web routines with SOPA and PIPA protest notices compelled them to get involved in the protest in their own way. It just goes to show that reaching your audiences where they are is an effective way for communicators to raise awareness and encourage action on an issue. Plus, it doesn’t hurt your cause if you get support from an opinion leader like Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

While time will tell if signatures to online petitions and increased calls and emails to Capitol Hill on Wednesday changed the outcome of the January 24 vote in favor of SOPA and PIPA protesters, it is already evident that the reach and response to yesterday’s Internet blackout will definitely impact it.

While I may not be able to foresee  the future, my media savvy crystal ball is suggesting that Monday, January 23, 2012, will be a dark day for communicators.

If you haven’t heard the troubling news already, Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Paypal and other major Internet mainstays will be staging a “blackout” on January [...]]]>

While I may not be able to foresee  the future, my media savvy crystal ball is suggesting that Monday, January 23, 2012, will be a dark day for communicators.

If you haven’t heard the troubling news already, Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Paypal and other major Internet mainstays will be staging a “blackout” on January 23 to protest proposed federal legislation that will make them liable for lawsuits for content posted on their websites.

Congress is considering a new bill – called the Protect IP Act or Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) – which would allow companies to sue websites for posting protected content without permission and force them to go dark. For example, if I posted a video on YouTube of my friend dancing at a party with our favorite Adele song playing in the background, the record company could sue YouTube and force them to close their whole website for my infraction. There will be a hearing on Tuesday, January 24, to consider this legislation, hence the January 23 protest that could endure for a few hours or an entire day.

For communicators, the uncertainty of the blackout compels us to find and plan for alternative ways to do our online-heavy tasks on January 23. It is rare for a public relations activity to have less than one Internet-related tactic, so, word to the wise: Avoid scheduling events or releases for January 23. It is likely to be a day when our world is narrowed to those we can communicate with in traditional ways so that protesters can enlighten us about our dependence on the World Wide Web and social media.

UPDATE 1/17/12 12:15 P.M. – Wikipedia and Reddit announced that they will blackout their sites on Wednesday, January 18 to protest SOPA. Be prepared as other websites may follow suit. However, it may be unnecessary now. Due to White House pressure over the weekend, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa announced this morning (on his website, ironically) that his committee is postponing a hearing on SOPA, essentially shelving the legislation and postponing a vote on the House floor on the bill. Time will tell if communicators need to be concerned about Internet blackout protests actually occurring since the bill seems to be old news now.

UPDATE 1/18/12 9:20 A.M. – Wikipedia and Reddit kept to their threat to go dark for 24 hours today in protest of SOPA, but other big Internet sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and AOL, have declined to participate. Google is just placing copy on their homepage today asking users to contact Congress about the bill. Looks like a widespread Internet blackout as predicted earlier this week will not materialize after all. However, the potential blackout did raise a lot of  interesting questions for communicators and Internet users.

What is a congressional caucus? Is it that piece of road kill you had to avoid when driving to work this morning? No — that’s a carcass. Some people might think that it’s the capital of Venezuela. No — that would be Caracas. If you’re thinking that it’s that town in Jersey that you’re [...]]]>

What is a congressional caucus? Is it that piece of road kill you had to avoid when driving to work this morning? No — that’s a carcass. Some people might think that it’s the capital of Venezuela. No — that would be Caracas. If you’re thinking that it’s that town in Jersey that you’re not quite sure how to pronounce, you’d be wrong again. That’s Secaucus.

So what is a congressional caucus? We’ve all heard of it before, but if you ask most people outside of Capitol Hill to define what a congressional caucus is, they likely don’t know the answer.

U.S. Capitol Building at Night 2 by Kevin Burkett, on Flickr

So let’s clear all of that up. A congressional caucus is a coalition of House of Representatives and Senate members that meet to discuss specific legislative priorities and policy issues.

Our nation’s largest caucuses belong to the two major political parties. These are the House Democratic Caucus and House Republican Conference, along with the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Conference. Issue-related or race- or ethnicity-related caucuses also play a large role in defining policy issues by uniting Congressional members of the same ethnicity, such as what is known as the tri-caucuses: Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Staff at Vanguard Communications had the pleasure of speaking with Joseph P. Mais, legislative assistant to Rep. Raul Grijalva, about congressional caucuses. Mais discussed their various elements and dynamics. He mentioned that due to their small size, the vast majority of caucuses do not meet. He also noted that advocacy and non-profit organizations can influence agendas for active caucuses by:

• Working with members to bring forth issues
• Working with caucus chairs or task force chairs to bring forth issues
• Highlighting connections with current issues that are of importance to Congress

These Congressionally-exclusive, closed-door caucus sessions are critical to our nation’s legislative agenda, as caucuses can influence Congressional members’ stance on our nation’s most critical issues. Caucuses allow members to discuss issues frankly with one another, to determine their positions and make sure their votes are both informed and strategic. They can also give advocates a chance for a body of legislators to champion their issue on the Hill.

I love watching TED videos.  They always feature interesting guest speakers from different industries and professions who share innovative ideas and discuss unusual topics.  Recently, TED released a video from CD Baby founder and entrepreneur Derek Sivers‘ talk in February.  His brief lecture centered on the leadership lessons we could learn from the video [...]]]>

I love watching TED videos.  They always feature interesting guest speakers from different industries and professions who share innovative ideas and discuss unusual topics.  Recently, TED released a video from CD Baby founder and entrepreneur Derek Sivers‘ talk in February.  His brief lecture centered on the leadership lessons we could learn from the video of a random guy dancing on the lawn during a concert.  Watch his brief presentation here:

Derek’s insights got me wondering if a policy revolution could follow the same road map.  Even blogger Rohit Bhargava of Influential Marketing Blog suggests that Sivers formula is similar to the process he used to turn his Social Media Optimization concept into a revolution within the social media community.  We can use the same lessons as we design our policy change revolutions.

As Sivers highlights in his TED presentation, it’s the first follower that really starts the movement.  Until the first person joins the lone dancer, he looks inconsequential and no one takes him seriously.  Alone, observers might notice him, but then they lose interest and pay attention to something else.

Policy revolutions work the same way.  While every revolution needs a leader to sound the alarm, leading organizations need to recruit “followers” through partnerships with like-minded, diverse organizations to build effective policy change movements.  Without additional organizations rallying with you and behind your issue, policy calls to action can fall on deaf ears, eventually losing volume and credibility.  As a result, policy reform campaigns also lose impact among policymakers.

After one organization joins the leading group to create social change, it will become easier to build alliances with other organizations.  The crowd of supporters will follow, extending the size, reach and significance of a policy movement.

Earlier this month, a group of energy-concerned companies and advocacy organizations joined together to sign and submit a letter to President Obama requesting that consumer access to energy information, such as real-time electricity pricing information in their homes and business, become a national priority. The letter got the attention of and praise from Carol Browner, assistant to the President on Energy and Climate Change — an unlikely result if only one of these organizations had petitioned the White House for action.

Working together, anything is possible — even for the guy or organization dancing to the beat of their own drummer.  So the lesson learned from the shirtless dancing guy?  Starting a policy change revolution is more than just demonstrating the willingness to be in front, but the commitment to find that first follower to build a coalition and start a real movement.

This month, Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham will be releasing a new version of the climate change bill. This will be the third iteration of the climate change legislation – the most reviewed version being the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAPA) – to enter committee review in the U.S. Senate in [...]]]>

This month, Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham will be releasing a new version of the climate change bill. This will be the third iteration of the climate change legislation – the most reviewed version being the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAPA) – to enter committee review in the U.S. Senate in the past six months. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed its version of the carbon cap-and-trade bill last year – the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) – which also had several drafts before the final, approved version.

Thus, it is clear: before a climate bill reaches the President’s desk for signature, there have been multiple additions, deletions or complete rewrites of the legislation, as well as changes in policymakers’ positions and stakes on the proposed legislation.

With so many game changes and changers, how does an organization keep up? While companies like CapitolAdvantage provide software platforms to follow developments on the Hill, these options may be too pricey for non-profits. However, there are inexpensive ways to use existing Internet tools to help follow the action (or lack there of) in Congress on your target issues.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordanconway/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Organizations may already be using Internet news alerts, such as Google Alerts or Yahoo! Alerts, to follow media coverage of  areas of interest, and utilizing RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed readers, like Google Reader, to organize and track news alerts and updates from key outlets, blogs and Web sites. You can use these same tools to track federal and state legislation.

Creating news alerts with search terms related to a specific bill – such as the bill number, title, acronym, or even names of key legislators involved in the bill – will help organizations follow any updates about the legislation.  Registering for RSS news feeds from Congressional or state committee Web sites and key policymakers publicly connected to the bill will keep organizations informed of developments prior to resulting media reports. Ultimately, you’re using these tools to track legislation online the same way you would track a news story online.

THOMAS - the Library of Congress legislation database – is a great resource for identifying search terms to use to track a specific federal bill. There are also wiki databases maintained by non-profit government watchdog groups, like OpenCongress, which can provide similar information, but may be less authoritative and should be used with caution.

Using alerts and RSS feed readers to keep your organization abreast of  the ebbs and flows of policy issues or bills will make it easier to determine your positions, calls to action and when and how to best communicate them to key audiences.

Despite the myths, 501(c)3 organizations can lobby without losing their tax-exempt status. Visit the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest for more information about IRS lobbying rules for non-profit organizations. You’ll be surprised at how much your organization is allowed to do to impact policy.

In the meantime – while you wait for your bill updates to arrive – here’s a refresher course on how bills become laws and the role we can play, with policymakers, to make them happen.

Personally, one of my least favorite school activities as a student was report card day. While I often knew in advance what the report card would say, I was always anxious about my parents’ reaction. Knowledge may be power, but I think we can all admit that sometimes there are things we wish our [...]]]>

Personally, one of my least favorite school activities as a student was report card day. While I often knew in advance what the report card would say, I was always anxious about my parents’ reaction. Knowledge may be power, but I think we can all admit that sometimes there are things we wish our parents didn’t know about our academic achievements – or lack thereof.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amboo213/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Like our younger selves, policymakers don’t like report cards, but the tactic can definitely get an organization noticed in the media and the public. More advocacy organizations are using report cards — or scorecards — to draw attention to the performance (i.e. voting record) of Congressional and state legislators on a variety of policy issues.

Recently Environment America — a nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental advocacy organization — issued their annual Congressional scorecard. It identified members of Congress who are “Washington’s environmental champs” – policymakers who voted for the environment 100% of the time in the past 18 months on major environmental issues. The scorecard also called out policymakers who are “natural disasters” and did not support environmental legislation and/or issues. State affiliates of Environment America also replicate this approach and release scorecards focusing on their state’s representatives, as Environment Washington did in December.

Outside of the environmental movement, other advocacy groups also use the scorecard as a tool to bring awareness to and action on their issue. For example, the Human Rights Campaign issues a Congressional Scorecard each year to show how members of Congress have voted on equality issues. The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law has an interactive Web site dedicated to their annual scorecards on how Representatives and Senators voted  on anti-poverty legislation. The Web site even allows visitors to compare legislators’ grades.

Federal and state policymakers don’t like their voting records publicized and publicly evaluated. Their constituents (policymakers’ “parents” in this metaphor) are often unaware of the voting behavior and legislative actions of their representatives, and a scorecard can provide them a new, easy to understand viewpoint to evaluate their representative’s performance.

Issuing scorecards can also open doors for organizations looking to build relationships and alliances with key policymakers. Media coverage resulting from a scorecard release draws attention from Capitol Hill and state legislative staffers to your organization and may inspire — or force in an election year like this one — legislators to change their viewpoint and voting record on an issue.  In addition, scorecards provide valuable, concise information and data to reporters covering that policy issue and will help position your organization as an expert and resource for future insights.

In spite of the discomfort it causes lawmakers, the scorecard/report card approach is an effective tool in the policy communications arsenal to expand an organization’s message exposure. Hopefully, it will reinforce supportive policymakers to continue championing the issue or pressure failing legislators to improve their grade and make the honor roll on their next report card.

Before leaving for winter recess in December, U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) released the 2010 legislative calendar. While there weren’t any surprises, the calendar does provide a hint on how to get the attention of Congress this year: think local.

As is typical for an election year, the legislative schedule is [...]]]>

Before leaving for winter recess in December, U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) released the 2010 legislative calendar. While there weren’t any surprises, the calendar does provide a hint on how to get the attention of Congress this year: think local.

As is typical for an election year, the legislative schedule is shorter than 2009; the House is only scheduled to be in session for 110 days, compared to last year’s 159 days.  The target adjournment date of October 8, 2010 would give members just over three weeks of solid campaign time before Election Day (Tuesday, November 2), as well as several recesses throughout the year to return home to campaign.

While the U.S. Senate has not released their calendar, recesses and convening/adjournment dates should be similar to the House calendar.

2010 is a critical election year for Congress as results could shift power in the House and the Senate as well as on both sides of the party aisle. As a result, Congressional members and their staffs will be focused on home districts and states for most of the year. In the coming months, they’ll be paying extra attention to what’s happening in the field, instead of their Washington, D.C. offices.

Whether you are sending an email, delivering a petition, making a phone call or scheduling a meeting with your representative or senator, consider targeting your efforts to both Capitol Hill and elected officials’ offices in your own backyard. Your messages and tactics may get more attention at the local level and impact the legislative agenda. In 2010, Congress will be thinking local too.