Presentation on Amnesty International USA's approach to online engagement, presented by Kyra Stoddart to Farra's Online Engagement class at the New School.

1. Engaging Activists Online
Amnesty International USA Engagement Media
Presented by Kyra Stoddart

2. I. Overview
II. Website
III. Email
IV. Social Media

3. Overview: Amnesty’s Mission
• Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters,
members and activists in more than 150 countries and territories who campaign to
end grave abuses of human rights.
Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or
religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations.

4. Overview: Online Communications
Amnesty International has made substantial investments in digital technologies for
more than a decade in an effort to educate the public about human rights issues;
engage and mobilize our current members and activists; and recruit and mobilize
new members and activists.
We’ve seen steady growth over these years :
– We receive more than a million monthly page views on our web site; and
– We mobilize more than half a million people through email;
– We raise awareness among hundreds of thousands of other individuals through our
expanding presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter

5. I. Overview
II. Website
III. Email
IV. Social Media

6. Website: amnestyusa.org
• Around 300k visitors a
month viewing around 1
million pages of content.
• Tens of thousands of pages
of content including
reports, actions, news
items, blog posts, events,
and campaign information
and tools.

7. Website: Action Center
amnestyusa.org/act
• 50 to 100 live actions at
any given time on
variety of human rights
issues
• Letters generated
instantly to targets
• Tens of thousands of
letters delivered a
month

8. Website: Action Form
Redesigning our action form increased conversion rates by 40% with redesign of form.
Old Form New Form

9. Website: Human Rights Now Blog
blog.amnestyusa.org
• 30k readers a
month of our blog.
• It is in the top 5
most viewed
sections of our
website.

10. I. Overview
II. Website
III. Email
IV. Social Media

11. Email: Engaging Our Supporters
• We use email to engage and activate our 650k
online activists and members by sending:
– Action Alerts
– Event Invitations
– High Level invitations (ie join lobby delegations)
– Fundraising Appeals
– Cultivation Messages (ie good news)

12. Email: Examples

13. I. Overview
II. Website
III. Email
IV. Social Media

14. Social Media: Overview
• We recognize the importance of social media in shaping public thinking and use
social media profiles to increase the organization’s online visibility.
• We use social media to foster awareness of human rights issues, reach our
influencers, develop relationships, recruit and mobilize members, and obtain
insights on public perceptions of Amnesty and our work.

15. Social Media: Where We Are

16. Social Media: Facebook
• 275,000 likes
• Top source of traffic to our website
• Enables advocacy by allowing us to:
– Mobilize followers to take action
quickly
– Reach wider audiences through
Facebook’s easy sharing tools
– Host quick and easy interactive chats
with human rights experts

17. Social Media: Facebook Action Center
Take action tab Take action without leaving the news feed

18. Social Media: Twitter
• 166,000 followers
• Enables advocacy by allowing us to:
– Mobilize followers to take action quickly
– Target legislators, corporations or other
officials directly on Twitter.
Example -> release of 14 year old
detainee in Kashmir after mobilizing
Twitter campaign targeting Kashmir Chief
Minister who is active on Twitter. Read
more:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/iar/when-a-
tweet-can-change-the-world/

19. Social Media: FourSquare
• Increase our brand visibility
through our tips on places
connected to the human rights &
social justice movements
• Tested special offers for check-ins
at Warped Tour 2010

20. Questions?