The question as to how mobile phones and sms can be used for activism and advocacy, bringing together a wide geographical spread of experiences and problems elicited a lively debate among participants at Mobileactive 08. It is abundantly clear that experiences vary from one setting to another.

Whether the issue at hand is a campaign for a presidential candidate or raising awareness around alcohol abuse and domestic violence, the success of any campaign would depend on how the message is designed, who the recipients of the message are, and whether there is an inbuilt feedback mechanism.

One of the concerns raised in the group by one of the participants is the difficulty in running an sms campaign where the communication is vertical but not horizontal. This reduces the potential for the message to spread virally among the target audience. Other forms of media providing support for an sms campaign are still crucial. Whereas sms provides a primary means for the public to participate and add voice to a campaign, the 160-character limit of sms is a major constraint to the amount of information that can be distributed to the public.

When television or radio provides support by giving out the information, it becomes easier to provide updates or opportunities for interactivity and action on the issue. Another way to ensure success for an sms campaign is to jump-start it with a big event which can then provide a ‘memory tag' to an issue. Frequently, however, campaigns fall victim to ‘recipient fatigue’, whereby people get tired of receiving information and updates on an issue and the attention wanes. In this case, sms campaigning and advocacy could benefit from creative ways in which recipients can filter how and when they receive information or updates of their choice.

Campaigns risk losing support when there are too many conflated issues without a central resolution or a specific end goal. This is an important caution for organizations that try to build too many dimensions, or sub-campaigns, into an issue. Possibly the best advice given by a participant is that one must never forget that the people themselves are the primary stake-holder in any campaign, and that the success thereof lies in providing the people with the tools to own and run the campaign.

Mobile and sms activism has great potential for bringing about change both at a local level, as well as globally, because we now have the ability to link disparate groups who are campaigning for the same thing across wider areas and therefore increase impact.