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The MoveOn Effect: The Internet’s Impact on Political Activism

The MoveOn Effect: The Internet’s Impact on Political Activism. Dave Karpf, Ph.D Assistant Professor, Rutgers University Davekarpf@gmail.com www.davidkarpf.com Twitter: @Davekarpf. The Internet and Political Action: A New Wave of Skeptics.

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The MoveOn Effect: The Internet’s Impact on Political Activism

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  1. The MoveOn Effect: The Internet’s Impact on Political Activism Dave Karpf, Ph.D Assistant Professor, Rutgers University Davekarpf@gmail.com www.davidkarpf.com Twitter: @Davekarpf

  2. The Internet and Political Action: A New Wave of Skeptics

  3. A New Generation of Political Advocacy Organizations

  4. Let’s take a closer look at MoveOn • 32 staffpeople • Zero Offices • Founded in 1998 • Emerged in 2002-3 as a vocal force in the anti-war movement • 5 million members • $90 million+ donated in 2008 election • 933,800 volunteers in ‘08, 20 million+ volunteer-hours • 200+ locally-based “MoveOn Councils

  5. Not Just “Clickstream” Activism

  6. MoveOn Isn’t an Isolated Example • Founded in January ‘09 • 400,000+ members • $1,350,000 raised in ‘09 • Built their list around Norm Coleman/Al Franken and around the public option • 14 staff (only 3 in ‘09) • Zero Office Space • Combined expertise in technology, issue campaigns, and electoral campaigns

  7. Membership regimes: This has all happened before Skocpol (2003) describes the displacement of cross-class membership federations by professionally-managed advocacy groups. Membership went from attending/participating to supporting/check-writing This was a technologically-mediated transition. And we’re experiencing another one (Bimber 2003)

  8. Three Ideal-Types Diarists DFA Neo-federated Core Staff Councils Community E-mail members DailyKos Online Comm-of-interest MoveOn Hub-and-spokes affiliates Nat’l

  9. 3 Elements of MoveOn’s/PCCC’s Fundraising Success • Zero-cost scaling. 100 e-mails cost the same as 10,000 e-mails. • “A/B Testing.” A form of passive democratic input • “Headline Chasing.” Targeted Appeals, Timely Issues.

  10. Meanwhile, Old Revenue Streams are Collapsing • Prospect Direct Mail is in industry-wide freefall. • Targeted fundraising appeals yield restricted money which cannot be used for organizational overhead expenses.

  11. Existing Advocacy Organizations have high overhead costs National Wildlife Federation AFL-CIO

  12. New Groups and Old Groups Fundraise Differently Data from the Membership Communications Project 6 months of e-mails, 70 progressive orgs, 2,162 data points

  13. And It Isn’t Just E-Petitions

  14. This isn’t “clicktivism.” It sure ain’t “facebook activism.”It isn’t even “organizing w/out orgs.”…nor is it “networked nonprofits.”It’s disruption theory. • Changing definitions of membership • Dramatic shifts in revenue streams • New tactical repertoires • Resultant shift in how collective action is structured in America. • Displacement of old orgs by new.

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