Online advocacy at its best is about giving more citizens more power to act together in creating social change. At its worst, online advocacy is a fundraising technique and promotional strategy that can work, while generating some very negative inadvertent outcomes. Organizers working for the common good need to do a better job of articulating good online advocacy strategies and resisting demands that our work be measured in dollars raised or a higher public profile.

What we have at stake is not (just) the integrity of our cause or organization, but the effectiveness of our mission.

The conflict between the different ends of the online advocacy spectrum can be captured in a phrase: Mission over Membership. When we focus on mission, we can sleep well at night, knowing that the actions we request from our supporters will in fact lead to the change we want effected. If, on the other hand, we use the language of change primarily in support of fundraising and organization building, we run a serious risk: that online advocacy messaging becomes devalued, along with the emails from our organizations.

While mainstream media remains under the control of a handful of giant corporations, you no longer have to own a printing press to reach a dedicated audience. Building on traditions of public access, independent media and peer-to-peer networks, we now communicate, "many to many", across phone and internet networks with affordable and high powered laptops, PDAs, phones and gaming devices. In this major step forward for free speech, the “network centric” age enables us to "be the media", tell our stories, and make social change happen.

But what media and communication tools will make the biggest impact and have the farthest reach? Whether you are planning a demonstration, a print campaign, a web site, a viral video, or a mobile action, you need to start with a goal and a strategy. To help, we’ve compiled many of the rich resources available to the nonprofit community in a few basic steps to strategic communications.

Katya Andresen, Network for Good and Mark Rovner, Sea Change Strategies

Some very human principles make or break the success of absolutely everything you do online. These are the kinds of truths Buddha or Freud –- explorers of the deepest recesses of the human mind -- talked about.

To achieve true marketing "enlightenment," you need to tap into fundamental human needs with your technology rather than hoping technology can inspire alone. There are at least seven of these fundamental needs:

• To be SEEN and HEARD
• To be CONNECTED to someone or something
• To be part of something GREATER THAN OURSELVES
• To have HOPE for the future
• To have the security of TRUST
• To be of SERVICE
• To want HAPPINESS for self and others

Flickr Photo: lnkyhackI would be writing this post from a solar powered MacBook but alas, we haven't seen the sun in a week here in Portland. Though Spring is not cooperating with my gardening and hiking plans, we here at NTEN would still like us all to take a break from our keyboards and monitors and remember that in our tech-obsessed world, there are some easy ways to give Mother Nature a break.

Here are a few of our favorite sites and ideas. Share yours by adding a comment!