Monday, September 19, 2005
The Future of Lobbying: Online Astroturf Activisim
For Activist Constituents, Click Here
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum's "K Street Confidential" column for the Washington Post describes the way tech-savvy lobbyists are using the internet to channel and focus constituent response around selected issues to influence lawmakers in Washington. Creating the illusion of a grass-roots response, an astroturf activism:
This technique of drumming up support online has its limitations. Practitioners have found that it works better for some issues and not for others:
They also found that there were regional differences:
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum's "K Street Confidential" column for the Washington Post describes the way tech-savvy lobbyists are using the internet to channel and focus constituent response around selected issues to influence lawmakers in Washington. Creating the illusion of a grass-roots response, an astroturf activism:
The technique works this way: An interest group that wants to gather home-grown advocates takes out a banner advertisement on a widely used Web site. By clicking on the ad, people acknowledge that they agree with the group's opinion and are then asked what further steps they'd be willing to take to help the cause. These include writing letters to the editor and calling, writing or meeting with lawmakers in the capital or back in the district.
The interactive ads, in other words, create instant, ad hoc lobbying organizations that can be mobilized on every front that modern influencers utilize.
This technique of drumming up support online has its limitations. Practitioners have found that it works better for some issues and not for others:
"The Internet can be a very useful tool both to identify and to motivate people to express support to members of Congress," Castellani said. "But the more complicated the issue, the less valuable it becomes.
"It was very effective for the dividend issue, but trade didn't translate as easily. It was harder to make the direct connection to their economic wellbeing."
They also found that there were regional differences:
For a reason that is as-yet undiscerned, the banner ads attracted constituents primarily from the East and West coasts and not many from the country's midsection, which was where the Roundtable needed them most.
