Activists have always searched for the most efficient and effective way to publicize their issue. In the past few years, the Internet has emerged as a primary vehicle for publishing "Action Alerts." An action alert is a message that someone sends out on the net asking for a specific action to be taken on a current political issue. For your issue to be compelling enough for someone to act, your alert must be geared to fit the Internet and its offspring, email and the World Wide Web. Both offer amazing opportunities to you and your issue for widespread exposure and action.

Action alerts on the Internet are modeled on alerts that have historically been published on paper and lately via fax machines, for a long time. The Internet's main advantages are 1) it is a lot cheaper, and 2) the distribution is potentially global. A networked alert can travel extremely far from its origin by being forwarded from friend to friend and list to list, without any additional cost being imposed on the original sender. This phenomenon of chain-forwarding is important, and it behooves the would-be author of an action alert, whether a single message or a whole campaign, to think through its consequences.

When you are constructing your action alert, think about the following:

1. Identify your issue. Put a good, clear headline on it. Make that one line that everyone reads so compelling that the reader has to continue to the body of the alert. This is sometimes the most difficult part of the alert, as you try to condense your entire issue into a few words. The headline should not be more than one line long.
   
2. Put a date on it. Always include the time-frame in which your action alert is valid. Action alerts can travel through the net forever. Don't count on the message header to convey the date, as people who forward net messages frequently strip off the header. If your recommended action has a essential time-line, (e.g., write your senator by March 21st, 1997), then state that clearly.
   
3. Make your alert self-contained. Don't assume your readers will have any context for your issue. DO assume that your alert will be read by people who have never heard of your or your cause. This is one of the wonders of the Internet! Provide background or historical information about the subject of your alert, but keep it short and concise.
   
4. Be compelling! If you want to inspire someone to do something, be inspirational! Speak from the heart about why this issue is important, what could be lost, and what can be saved, with the community's help. Be careful about being histrionic, though.
   
5. Check your facts. In the quest to inspire, however, don't exaggerate the facts. Remember, your message may circle the earth, and may be received by tens of thousands of people. When you make mistakes, you can cause great disruption, as well as discrediting yourself, your organization, and the whole idea of network action alerts. Never fail to be accurate.
   
6. Provide action steps. Always include a "What You Can Do" section in your alerts. People care more about an issue when they become actively involved in its progress. Keep the steps clear and concise.
   
7. Lead readers to further reading. Remember that your action alert can compel people to want to learn more about your issue. Help them find background information by providing a short bibliography of sound references for them to pursue. Point to web sites that can further understanding of your issue.
   
8. Include your organization's information. This helps establish authenticity of your alert, making is more credible to the activist community, and allows readers to know where to go for more information or clarification.
   
9. Evaluate your action alert's success. Ask to be copied on emails, letters, etc., so you will know when someone has taken action. When the campaign is over, try to derive some lessons for others to use. Take some time while the experience is still fresh to measure the value of your efforts. What problems did you have? What mistakes did you make? Who did you reach and why?
   
10. Email is just a part of a larger organizing strategy. An action alert is not an organization; it's just an alert. If you want to build a lasting political movement, at some point you'll have to gather people to work together on an issue. Email is simply a tool, albeit a very effective one, in an activist's toolbox.

Especially for email alerts:

• Include a phrase like "post where appropriate" so that people aren't encouraged to send your alert to mailing lists where it doesn't belong.
  
• Put clear beginning and ending markers on your alert, such as a row of dashes at the top and bottom, so that any additions made by people other than yourself will clearly be modifications to your original.
  
• Use short paragraphs. Email will frequently be read in a document window with scrollbars, making it harder to track long paragraphs. Consider breaking up your paragraphs to only a few sentences a piece. Inserting some blank space in your alert is also easier on the readers' eyes.
  
• If your information is sensitive and you don't want the alert forwarded to other lists, make sure you say so. Be aware of security risks whenever you are transmitting information.
  
• Don't overdo it. Action alerts might become as unwelcome as direct-mail advertising. Postpone that day by picking your fights and including some useful, thought-provoking information in your alert message.