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Written by Free Range Studios and Matt Lockshin from It’s Our Healthcare

The Issue

In October, 2007 Governor Schwarzenegger and California state legislators were holding a special hearing to consider a healthcare reform proposal that would require health coverage for all Californians. But the proposal did not go far enough. It’s Our Healthcare (IOH), a coalition of seniors, healthcare consumers and labor, had spent the last year fighting for comprehensive healthcare reform that would take into account both affordability and accessibility, and the governor’s plan fell short.

IOH needed to deliver the urgent message to lawmakers that real healthcare reform couldn’t wait. With the special hearing already scheduled, organizers had to move quickly, but traditional methods of advocacy, including handwritten notes to the governor, emails, vigils, faxes and phone calls had already been used. A new tactic was needed to make sure people’s voices were heard.

The Campaign

As the details of the healthcare proposal were being discussed inside the Capitol, Californians from around the state used their cell phones to send personal text messages to the governor. Their comments and stories about the need for a better healthcare system ran in real time on a giant digital screen on the Capitol lawn, accompanied by a live rally. The campaign put the messages of hundreds of Californians in front of the governor in a way that could not be ignored, and gave constituents a means of reaching the Capitol even if they could not be there in person.

How Did They Do It?

Organizing is critical
As with any campaign, IOH’s success was grounded in old-fashioned organizing. A coalition of coalitions, IOH had cultivated a large member base ranging from large nonprofits to concerned citizens. Over the course of its yearlong campaign, members had been invited to participate in designing and executing outreach, education and advocacy. So when it was time to pull off a high-profile text-messaging campaign to the governor, the base was engaged and ready to take action.

IOH activated its members for the text-messaging campaign using a variety of on- and off-line strategies:

Online

• Coalition members agreed to email their entire lists.
• A week prior to the event, emails were sent announcing the campaign and asking people to sign up in advance.
• On the day of the event, those that had signed up were sent a reminder text message with clear instructions on how to participate. The entire list was emailed again and urged to send messages and watch the campaign unfold online.
• IOH staff used Facebook to reach out to existing contacts. Flyers were also placed on Facebook to reach a broader audience, but the effort yielded less than 1% clickthrus.
• Blogger outreach was conducted in advance to advertise the campaign and give those following California politics the ability to cover it live.

Offline

• Field organizers designed flyers and delivered them to labor halls and other workplaces. They also made announcements about the campaign at regional labor meetings.
• Volunteers handed out flyers at busy commute-hour locations around the state.
• Workplace parties were organized to encourage offices to participate and watch as their messages were shown in Sacramento.
• Handwritten notes were solicited ahead of time and transcribed as text messages to fill any gaps.
• A contingency plan was in place to solicit text messages on the streets in case there was not enough participation through online outreach.
• An on-site rally was organized to increase visibility and give people the opportunity to participate more actively.

Technology makes it possible

IOH used available technology in an innovative way to make it easy for anyone with a cell phone to participate. The information flow went as follows:

1. Participants texted a keyword to a shortcode (provided by Mobile Connections), prompting an automatic reply message with instructions on how to participate in the campaign.
2. Participants sent text messages responding directly to the ask “Tell the Governor that REAL healthcare reform means AFFORDABLE healthcare.”
3. The messages went to IOH’s inbox and through an approval process.
4. Using an RSS feed, the approved messages were sent to a custom-made Flash Player (created by Articulated Man), which formatted them and filtered out common mistakes.
5. The Flash Player released a new text message every 20 seconds, pulling from pre-written messages if no new ones were available.
6. An embeddable Flash Player widget was created to display the messages on IOH and coalition members’ websites.
7. An IOH computer with a broadband card was connected to a large, digital screen on the lawn of the Capitol, and ran the Flash Player program.
8. A video camera was positioned to film the screen. The camera was connected to a second IOH computer, also online, and through U-Stream, the video of the digital screen could be pulled and embedded on IOH and others’ websites to be watched in real time.

See Appendix A for a visual description.

Results

The text-messaging campaign was a huge success for IOH. Six hundred and fifty text messages were received and displayed where the governor and legislators could not ignore them. They were also seen by everyone who walked or drove by the Capitol lawn that day, including legislative staff, lobbyists and the media. The Capitol corridors were abuzz with
talk about the campaign, and it was covered on the radio during commute hours. It was an empowering experience for the hundreds of ordinary Californians who participated, seeing their own stories flashed live in the Capitol and covered in the news, and feeling as if they were finally being heard.

On an internal level, the campaign also helped educate progressive coalition members about media technology, and provided them with a new strategy for advocacy that can be employed in future campaigns. The success and ingenuity of the text-messaging campaign also reinvigorated IOH staff and field operatives and coalition members, energizing them to continue their fight for comprehensive healthcare reform. (As of this writing, debate on the issue continues to rage in Sacramento.)

Why Did It Work?

• With an important hearing under way, the campaign had urgency.
• IOH had a large, involved membership base.
• Field and office staff were already in place, and the human resources were available to organize the campaign within 10 days.
• People had already participated in traditional ways and were ready for something new and experimental.
• The State Capitol is a physical space that is not accessible to most Californians.
• The lawn outside the Capitol is seen from the governor’s window, and permits to be on the lawn were accessible.
• The City of Sacramento has wireless infrastructure.
• Messages could be generated from off-line canvassing if online tactics didn’t work.
• The text messaging medium limited the amount that each person could say to 160 characters, making room for many voices and keeping comments focused.
• People could watch the campaign live and see their own messages being displayed, giving them a greater sense of participation than a traditional email or letter-writing campaign.

Lessons Learned/Potential Pitfalls

• Censorship. Campaigns involving public comment need to draw the line between free speech and message control in advance.
• Real-time risks. When a campaign is live, there is a lot to lose if things don’t go well.
• Untested technology. IOH had never done a text-messaging campaign, but was willing to take the risk. Not all organizations have that luxury.
• Social networking sites. Facebook can be a good way to reach out to existing contacts, but was not an effective tool for broadcasting the campaign.
• E-mail. Because it requires time-sensitive, off-line action, text messaging is a difficult “ask” through an email blast. Field outreach and other organizing methods proved more effective.
• Legibility. IOH did extensive research to determine the best screen size and most legible font to ensure the messages could be read. The screen was 12’x9’ and a font was created akin to highway signs.
• Time management. Although turnout can be difficult to predict, it is important to decide ahead how much time to give each message, balancing readability with total campaign time.
• User-friendly technology. Many of IOH’s members had never text messaged before. If there had been more time, IOH organizers could have included a less tech-heavy way for people to participate.

Appendix A