This article looks into what tools you can use to organise activists and volunteers for your campaign.
So you’ve mobilised a number of people to take action for your campaign. Next, you will want them to step up to become active leaders and participants in your campaign. It’s time to organise people by building relationships and nurturing skills.
Organising tools can be a way to enhance the organising work you do by recruiting and communicating to a team of people. Choosing a tool depends on what type of organising you want to do, how secure it is and what type of functionality you need.
There are a number of tools people use nowadays to organise. We will discuss the pros and cons of a selection of these in this article, but tech moves fast and local contexts can be very different from each other.
Slack is an internal communication platform developed by American software company Slack Technologies and is now owned by Salesforce.
Slack is a popular tool to organise volunteers and activists. To read more about how Slack was used, check out Bernie Sander’s Democratic primary campaign in the USA.
The Pros
- Slack’s internal features allow for work to be organised in a project-based context
- Slack offers a range of plug-ins such as Google Documents or Twitter feeds that makes the app dynamic and useful to campaigners
- Slack’s ‘feed’ can be divided into a number of channels in one app that focuses on the specific campaign, goal or volunteer groups. Conversations and information can be focused on that one feed
- Information about Slack is organised usefully. People are able to comment under posts, vote on specific issues and use emojis to colour coordinate the information being communicated
- Slack also offers push notification settings and task reminders
- It also allows for video and audio calls to help teams have live conversations
- Slack has a built-in calling function called a “huddle” which allows team members to activate drop-in voice calls to work on a project
The Cons
- There is also a high barrier of learning Slack’s ins and outs that may be difficult for a group of volunteers to get used to. Some may prefer to use the apps they use on a day to day basis already to organise in their spare time.
Alternatively, a very similar type of tool that is open-source and privacy-friendly is Mattermost. In many ways, it mimics the functionality provided by Slack but may need additional work to set up.
Signal is a centralised encrypted instant messaging app developed by the non-profit Signal Technology Foundation and Signal Messenger LLC.
With encrypted software, Signal has become an increasingly popular tool to use when organising as data has become increasingly and widely surveilled, bought and sold by governments, police and intelligence agencies worldwide.
The Pros
- Privacy is the main advantage Signal offers. It uses end-to-end (E2E) encryption and encryption algorithms, with Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) for text messages, voice messages, and video calls
- Open-source software
- Disappearing messages (aka self-destructing messages)
- Published transparency reports
- Logs minimum amount of data
- Does not log IP addresses
- Emoji reactions to messages are possible
- Free
The Cons
- Requires a telephone number to sign up
- It’s incredibly difficult to manage documents, follow conversations or allow for easy cross conversation spaces when organising volunteering
WhatsApp is an internationally available American freeware, instant messaging and voice-over-IP service application owned by Facebook, now named Meta.
WhatsApp has become an influential organising tool for the Global South. WhatsApp played a large role in the 2018 Indian elections. During COVID-19 it was a tool used for Mutual aid groups.
The Pros
- WhatsApp allows the creation of large groups of people (up to 256) generating large and personal close contacts
- WhatsApp feels more personal, as people are messaging one another as phone users
- Many people use WhatsApp on a day to day basis to speak with friends, so following a WhatsApp group is easy to keep active
- Message delivery can give a sense of urgency
- Rural communities or low-internet places prefer WhatsApp as it connects them to people they would not have otherwise
- It’s free
- It allows direct calls
- Communication is encrypted
The Cons
- Requires a telephone number to sign up
- It’s incredibly difficult to manage documents, follow conversations or allow for easy cross conversation spaces when organising volunteering
- WhatsApp has been criticised for its role in spreading misinformation. Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Narendra Modi in India were aided by utilising WhatsApp’s mass messaging tool. In India, there have also been reports of riots and at least 30 deaths linked to rumours circulating on WhatsApp
Facebook Groups are a feature of Facebook and have become an increasingly popular way of organising people and building community over a social media platform.
It has become a vessel for like-minded people to come together and discuss topics within a community or organise at a grassroots level. It has also been criticised for allowing white supremacists, gender violence and anti-vax communities to find and organise more supporters.
Pro’s
- Many people use and check Facebook day to day. A Facebook group is a simple way to keep people informed about recent organising activities and call people to take action like crowdfunding money or signing a petition
- According to Facebook’s algorithm, groups will still be on the top of the list regarding what people are seeing on their newsfeed, compared to pages
- A closed group inspires trust within its members. It’s easier for them to engage freely in conversations knowing that only immediate members can see, rather than the entire Facebook audience
- Groups allow you to post announcements on the top of the page that displays at first sight to all members, whereas page posts can get lost. Facebook just announced that you can now post up to 10 announcements at the top of the page.
- Groups can be self-sustaining, particularly with grassroots volunteers. It’s possible that the group members will continue to be active and create new conversations which will keep the group going without much effort from you as an organiser
Cons
- You need a Facebook account to join
- People can quickly miss information based on notification options and the algorithm
- It’s difficult to manage documents, follow conversations or allow for easy cross conversation spaces when organising volunteering
- There has been a lot of backlash against Facebook for suggesting right wing content groups to people via its algorithms that promote polarising content
- Facebook is increasingly being perceived as a toxic platform whose algorithm pushes and promotes oppressive content which gathers a certain type of audience
Discord is an instant messaging chat room that allows users to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers". It is owned by Discord Inc.
Originally popular with gamers, Discord has quickly been a way to politically organise young people. Initially, Discord was used by the alt-right and white supremacists to organise. However, recently, related servers have been banned by the owners.
Pros
- Discord internal features allow for work to be organised in a project-based context
- Discord ‘feed’ can be divided into a number of “servers” in one app that focuses on the specific campaign, goal or volunteer groups. Conversations and information can be focused on that one feed
- Voice and video is very clear and useful
- Free
Cons
- There have been multiple reports of people engaging in harassment, server raids and chat bombarding
- High barrier ask to have someone use Discord if they have never done before
A range of tools exists to aid in your goal to organise people around a campaign.
Slack, Mattermost, Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook Groups and Discord are popular digital tools that people use to organise politically and at a grassroots level.
When choosing a tool it’s important to recognise the type of people you are organising, what features are needed and how private you would like the tool to be. It is up to you to evaluate what is the best tool to use in your particular local context, being mindful of the tools’ barriers to entry, privacy considerations and accessibility on lower bandwidths.
Last updated: June 2022