Connection Café: Blog for Choice Day 2009

	Blog for Choice Day 2009
	Posted by Sally Heaven at Jan 22, 2009 11:32 AM CST Categories: Constituent Empowerment

Today is Blog for Choice Day 2009, an event organized by NARAL Pro-Choice America. This is the fourth annual such event and is meant to organize pro-choice bloggers to write about choice, raise the profile of reproductive rights, and educate their readers about the issue. Individual bloggers sign up and commit to devote at least one blog post on January 22 to the topic of choice. This year, the topic is "What is your top pro-choice hope for President Obama and/or the new Congress?"

The organization is also encouraging people who participate in Blog for Choice Day to post a link to their blog post in the comments for today's post, and will highlight individual blog posts throughout the day.

I like efforts like these to organize individual bloggers around a particular theme - Blog Action Day is another example. This kind of constituent empowerment effort as an organizing strategy is smart. On a constituent level, involving your members in an effort like this builds loyalty - everyone wants to feel like they're part of something, and writing a blog post (and maybe even getting highlighted on the organization's website or blog - everyone wants their 15 minutes!) binds the members more tightly to the organization. While I'm not aware of any studies in this specific area, it seems like a logical hypothesis that people who participate in this type of effort would be more likely to take action on action alerts and to donate to the organization. Feel free to educate me in the comments if this type of research has been done. :)

Also, there's a benefit to the organization beyond building constituent loyalty - the message is getting out in a highly coordinated, yet authentic fashion. By putting a question to your supporters - in this case, your top pro-choice hope for President Obama and/or the new Congress - the organization gives direction to supporters about what to write about without being heavy-handed or trying to over-control the message. For bloggers, authenticity is key, so people who participate are writing their own posts and not regurgitating talking points. And especially for bloggers whose readership includes family and friends, rather than a larger news-oriented blog or website, this is basically word-of-mouth marketing.

Choosing January 22 for the day is a good choice - it's the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, so there are plenty of hooks for individual bloggers to shape their comments around. It's also expected that today might be the day that President Obama repeals the so-called "Mexico City Policy" or "global gag rule" - also excellent fodder for bloggers if or when it happens.

So personally, my top pro-choice hope is that NARAL Pro-Choice America is able to use Convio's suite of tools to effectively empower their constituents to make their voices heard to decision makers on issues of choice in 2009. And that I'm able to help them do it!