Mobile And Smart Phone Organizing For Solidarity And Change

1. Mobile And Smart Phone Organizing For Solidarity And Change Presenters: Karl Stark – AFSCME Kombiz Lavasany – New Partners

2. Statistics & Background

3. The Age Of The Smarter Phone Use • More and more Americans are starting to get information, news, organize online. That includes union members. • More Americans have cell phones than computers • Desktop computer use : 58% • Laptop computer use: 46% • Cell phone, blackberry or Iphone: 83% • Cell phones are being increasingly being used for communications purposes other than just making calls: • Send or receive email: Jan 2010: 29% | Dec 2007: 19% • Send or receive Instant Messages: Jan 2010: 31% | Dec 2007: 17% • Access the internet: Jan 2010: 32% | December 2007: 19% • * Data: Pew Internet & American Life Project – Jan 2010

4. Class / Age Divide Exists in Smart Phone Usage

5. Smart Phone Usage Is Growing Rapidly

6. Phones In Organizing

7. Open Rates Are 90%+ • Email lists average open rates of 10%-25% • Mobile text messaging because of the medium averages openrates higher than 90%+ • Mobile text messages are hard to ignore • Smart phone rely less on SMSand more on traditional email, push notifications and apps.

8. Why It Works • Action rates are higher • Embed call action into the text with a phone number • Communicating with members while they’re out, not when they’re checking email

9. Mobile And PC Go Hand In Hand Source: Google

10. Organizing & List Building

11. Build Your List • Local unions are in a unique position to build high quality text lists for their members. • Everything you do online or via text will be built out of these list. • You can’t communicate innovative app uses or political campaigns without your list.

12. Unions Are In A Unique Place • Almost everything unions do connects to quality lit building. The original organizing operation. • Union Paperwork Sign up • Contract & Organizing Campaigns • Strike Votes • Rallies • Political Events • Meeting Sign In’s

13. Your Website Accessible • 5%+ of local union website traffic is coming from phones • Check your website and campaign pages on multiple smart phones • Automatic redirect for phone users to phone friendly version of website • IWebKit & other tools to make smart phone friendly versions.

14. Things To Remember • Make mobile browser friendly link • Phone numbers that are clickable (ie. 1-877-9737-6937, not (1-877-9-REPOWER) • Location can be clickable to a map for GPS enabled smart phones • Avoid flash pages which don’t load for phones or most smart phones. For video embed in Youtube, players that provide phones with .mp4 version of flash • Large graphics take time to download on phones • PDF’s are horrible, even on most smart phone. You can output PDF text to webpage • Tag your local buildings on Google maps. Members with smart phones can search and find union locations.

15. Your Own App • Apps tend to be expensive. $20,000 + for an Iphone • Pointabout will help make an app of your website • Small Society made OFA app • Other progressive developers exist.

16. Organizing Via Apps

17. Legislative Action • Healthcare • AFSCME uses: Over 55,000 online actions • 9,000+ Facebook and Twitter fans • 5,700+ text message users • OFA uses • High open and respond rate • Sent to switch board • Positive Messaging

18. Union Organizing • Around Contract • At rally encouraged members to sign up for text messaging • Using the normal organizing mechanism of union to drive sign up and information between union members. • Successful conclusion activists and members could be notified instantly of breaking news.

19. Election • Barack Obama • Text sign ups at rallies • Obama VP announcement • Drive turn out for localities • Drive GOTV on election day

20. There’s An App For That

21. Apps For Organizing • New Media departments have to become creative using existing apps for organizing • Most political uses of apps add to existing Social Graphs • Social graphs is a term Facebook uses to describe their entire network. It is essentially "the global mapping of everybody and how they're related” on social networking websites. • Ie. A facebook post or a tweet and how it’s seen and reshared by friends of the poster • Many apps that exist provide information that can be used for political organizing.

22. Google Maps • Basic but it feeds many other mobile applications • Allows GPS enabled phones to find your location

23. Barack Obama APP • Sorts your phone contacts by target states • Information about the campaign • Contact Congress tools for advocacy around issues.

24. MiniVan Touch • Scott Brown volunteers used similar to ID voters in MA. • Allows canvassers to keep track of script and walk targets that a campaign or union has designated. • Information is shared directly back to the VAN voter file • Stores walk list for uploading when volunteer isn’t connected to the internet. • Requires campaign or VAN users to create lists.

25. FourSquare • Location based social network. • Shares across personal networks. • Can have an impact when lots of people organize. • Allows users to write a message to their network. • Widely used.

26. Twitter & Facebook • Allows members to add union, issue, political information into their social graphs from rallies, meetings, mobilizations. • Smart phones easily let members add pictures and videos from events to their social graphs as it’s happening.

27. Real Time Congress • Real time tracking of Congress, including upcoming votes and specific reports • Legislation and whip notices at your fingerprints

28. Resources • App Developers • Mobile Campainers • Goodstein • Mobile Commons