Definition of Online Advocacy

From http://www.tsne.org/site/c.ghLUK3PCLoF/b.3015841/k.F9A6/Articles__Electronic_Advocacy_Practices.htm

What is Online Advocacy?

One of the more recent developments in nonprofit advocacy has been the development of online advocacy techniques. Also called electronic advocacy, Internet Advocacy and Activism Online, these techniques use the Internet and other types of high technology to promote policy change.

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McNutt and Penkaukaus (2000) argue that these activities can be grouped into four interrelated processes: Gathering and Analyzing Information, Educating and Developing Awareness, Organizing and Coordinating Supporters, and Applying Pressure.

• Gathering and Analyzing Information: Information is the bedrock of any advocacy program and Internet-based tools make it easier to collect and analyze that information. Functions like issue research and opposition research are now completed much more quickly with the huge range of data sources available online.
• Educating and Developing Awareness: Once the information base has been developed, technology can be used to make the public aware of issues and educate people about the problem and what actions they can take.
• Organizing and Coordinating Supporters: Organizing any action requires an endless stream of telephone calls, face-to-face encounters and meetings. Technology can make that process easier and ultimately more successful.
• Applying Pressure: Electronic advocacy also means contacting decision makers and persuading them to support your positions.

These four functions allow an advocacy campaign to make the best use of technology and move the effort forward. They can happen together or in sequence.

Umm, no. Contacting decision makers is not applying pressure. It is contacting decision-makers.

Applying pressure would be a general strike, or a strategy to take decision-making power for everyone.