Building an online community of supporters:the first nine months

Priscilla Brice-WellerMaking Links conference, October 2007

experiment:putting theory into practice

ANTaR’s online portfolio (so far):Website - http://www.antar.org.au

Campaign website - http://seaofhands.antar.org.au

MySpace friends - http://www.myspace.com/ant4r

Facebook friends - http://www.facebook.com “Sea of Hands” group

Technorati - http://www.technorati.com/people/technorati/ANT4R

30 Boxes calendar - http://30boxes.com “ANTaR”

Delicious bookmarks - http://del.icio.us/Australians_for_native_title_and_reconciliation

Flickr photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/antar

ActNow - http://www.actnow.com.au/Groups/ANTaR.aspx

YouTube videos - http://www.youtube.com/seaofhands

American-based activists - http://www.change.org “ANTaR”

define our goalsANTaR’s 2007 goals:• Become a trustworthy voice on

Australian Indigenous issues• Extend the reach of

our electronic communications• Inspire people to take action

• Like most advocacy organisations, ANTaR is not elligible for tax-deductible status (DGR)

• 1-year grant for online campaigner’s wage

• Large donation for 1 piece of online campaign work

fill our piggy bank

flesh out our plan

5-star ratings:Time

MoneyGeek

http://lolnptech.blogspot.com/

Who are we engaging online?

sympathisers activists

Simple actions

Professional

activists

Activemembers

Easy actions

AdvocatesSpecific,tangible actions

Simple actions

• befriending

• subscribing

• forwarding

• learning

Easy actions

• blogging

• signing petitions

• protesting

• wearing badge/shirt/wristband

Specific actions

• donating

• volunteering

• finding events to attend

• downloading and using online materials offline

• creating and uploading video/images

bridging the gap between “easy” and “specific”

Simple actions:

•befriending

•subscribing

•forwarding

•learning

Easy actions:

•blogging

•signing petitions

•emailing pollies or companies

•wearing badge/shirt

•learning more

Specific actions:

•donating

•volunteering

•downloading and using online materials offline

•creating and uploading multimedia

•finding events

would you like to be more involved?

people are motivated to get involved for many reasons

including: guilt, anger, empathy & personal

experience

what would you like to do?

people have different skills, availability,

access to resources, & levels of motivation

Online advocacy is very time-consuming but personal relationships are very valuable

Success Stories in Indigenous health: hard-copy booklet & online map

Sea of Hands campaign: physical installations & online application

# unique monthly visitors up 300% in first 9 months of ‘07

• passionate about the issue/s• passionate about online technology

www.antar.org.auwww.solidariti.com