• 
• 
• 

 1 of 3

Gallery

Do online protests really work?

Posted on 17 Sep 2009 at 13:16

There's clearly a deceptive power to the internet - again, arguably, a by-product of the speed in which it mobilises people, in that it makes things appear bigger than they actually are. Cleverly used, of course, that power of perception can be a great asset.

People power?

So do online protests and petitions really work? Just as there are thousands of physical petitions and protests that fly under the radar every year, the same is true with online protests. It doesn't help that the internet makes protesting so fundamentally easy, and this has hurt the value of e-petitions. In fact, used as a solitary tactic, the e-petition is likely to be the least effective tactic of all.

And yet online protests have clear advantages. Primarily, they're very good at making a lot of noise very quickly. This, particularly with businesses that are very dependent on the internet for their livelihood, means that a furore can be generated quickly, and web businesses have form in reacting speedily to them.

Inevitably, such protests tend to fizzle out equally quickly, and that makes online campaigns seeking substantive changes far tougher to execute. The success of Peter Roberts' road pricing campaign wasn't purely down to the fact that there was a petition on a website. Instead, it was fuelled by the numerous tactics Roberts employed to get it noticed, and then further aided by a slice of luck.

His protest was unusual in that it gained media traction for several weeks, making it impossible for the Government to ignore. Even then, it hasn't changed anything on the statute books, it just threw a hefty spanner in the works.

In short, the three key ingredients of a successful online protest are having a strong argument, putting it across in an original manner, and a dollop of luck. What's the most important? It might very well be luck.

Illustrations provided by Elly Walton

Author: Simon Brew