One of the first things I did when I finally got internet connection (back in 1999) was to build my own homepage. I had learned basics of html and what was needed to do so. Unlike today, homepages at that time were largely static and not a lot of interaction was going on. Nevertheless many people had an interest in how and if their content was perceived. So quite soon, everyone had some sort of page-view counter on their page. It was included in the pages using cheezy images of numbers that sort of gave you an idea how many people had actually looked at what you wrote down that sunday afternoon. People were excited about this. The other big thing were guestbooks, do you remember these? It was sort of the outsourced comment function on blogs and websites nowadays. I wasn't any different. I quickly learned to write CGI scripts (using perl) to take count of how many people actually looked at my pages. I used to care a lot about page views and how many people actually look at my content. Often if you upload content on a photo or video plattform this is the only statistic you get. If you use certail url shorteners they also allow you to see this statistic. So people get hung up on this simple measure of success. With facebook coming along it also seems to be how often stuff was "liked" on facebook or whatever other plattform.

When I started this blog and webpages for our Initiative against the EU Directive on data retention I didn't want to store any logs. Basically to ensure the users privacy. It's easier for me if I don't know who visited my website. And since I don't technically need this information, I am not even allowed to record it. Not having good ways of counting how many people actually look at my pages or read my stuff made me a little jittery. Of course you want to get some feedback on how your work is perceived.

Soon I noticed something much more valuable than page views: Engagement. Often when I met people, someone would suddenly say: "Hey, I like what you are doing". When we kicked off the Initiative agains Data-Retention I didn't worry anymore about who reads the website how often. The one thing I started caring about is: Who signs the petition. The response was incredible, we collected and still collect around 500 signatures a week. This is what actually matters. It doesn't matter how many people look at your blog, picture or video. Ditch google analytics, facebook likes etc. What matters is which action results what you do, not how many people look at it.

I am currently involved in a campaign to urge the Austrian government to act against the European data retention directive (2006/24/EG) (http://initiative.stopp-vorratsdaten.at in German). While doing this I learned a lot about campaigning. Because I got asked over and over again how I started and how to do campaign I decided to write my thoughts down.

The secret is to really begin
If there's a topic out there you think should be acted on and no-one seems to act: Start doing something. If you have time and it is important for you act, don't wait for other people. When data retention legislation in Austria got closer and closer to the date it was debated at the parliament I got more and more uneasy about it and was astonished to find no one of the usual activist groups really doing something. They did not even mention it on their web page. One group that dealt with data retention as their core issue hadn't updated their web page for months. Other groups were quiet and in stasis. I started to talk to people about it and found some others who were interested in acting against. After attending a meeting of one of the NGOs dealing with civil liberties in the digital age, I returned home disappointed, since they didn't think it was worth acting. So I decided to start with the small group of people I knew were interested, registered a domain and started a wiki around the topic. Soon the single-issue NGO (akvorrat.at) issued had an open meeting and our activities were shifted there. The key for me was I started acting.

You don't need a lot of people
One question I frequently get asked is how many people are active dealing with these kind of topics. If you count only the active people who move something, we are very few. And this is enough. You don't need 20 people to run a campaign, 2-3 committed people are enough. You'll find supporters and multipliers who are interested in your topic but don't have a lot of energy to invest. They will readily distribute your content and your campaigns, you need them.

Have a clear point.
It is nice if you can discuss your issue in great detail. however if a person who has never heard of it wants to know about, you need a clear point. It takes some time to realize what are the issues that move people and how to deliver it. But once you figured out, make sure this is the single most important thing you communicate. It will catch peoples attention and help them spread the information.

Communicate!
This is key. Use all kinds of different means to communicate, social media, websites, blogs etc. Focus on the issue and communicate it as clear as possible. Use community meetings and gatherings to talk about it. Whenever you go to a public meeting make sure people know you are involved in the campaign if it fits the topic.

Simplicity wins
A lot of netpolitical activists come from a rather techie side. They tend to like wikis or create their own CMS systems first. Both of them are not ideal tools to communicate. Nothing beats delivery than a single-page static HTML website with a simple URL. Deliver your key points there then link to further information. This should be the landing page you communicate over and over. A good example is http://zeichnemit.de of the German initiative against data retention. The URL tells you what to do, the page delivers you basic information and links to further information. This is all you need at first. A simple blog can do as well. Remember long unstructured texts are hard to read (and will most likely not be read by someone stumbling across the link on micro-blogging platforms).

Define simple actions.
Make it simple for people to do something: sign a petition (use real parliamentary petitions if available), send a text message (politicians mobile numbers are no secrets) or email. Postcards work nicely as well (http://nopnr.org had a successful postcard campaign this summer). The simpler the action the more likely it is for people to participate. We decided to collect signatures for our initiative (which in the beginning have to be on paper) so the key was to make it as easy as possible for people to find the signature sheet (print out, sign, and send it by post). It works!

Stay encouraged and surf the wave
Even if at first you get little attention, don't stop. Stay on it, show continuity. This helps you gain an interested audience and suddenly you get more attention. If your issue is already discussed in the news, act on it. Write a comment, tweet about it etc. This is a great way to gain attention. If you start something at the sweet spot, it takes of and starts flying in no time.