Email and social media use in grassroots advocacy efforts has become a popular, easy method to reach elected officials. But according to a recent study, the effort spent on electronic communications has little positive effect on legislative outcomes.

"While email is still the most frequently deployed advocacy tactic, it isn't associated with increased legislative victories. In fact, the statistics show that email negatively correlates with legislative success--the more time spent on it, the less successful an organization is," said Amy Showalter, one of the research authors, in a recent news release.

While email communication with fellow advocates can be important for mobilizing an effort, face-to-face events like fly-ins and cultivating relationships with elected leaders are key to getting results.

Legislators may no longer trust messages that come from email or social media accounts, especially since it can be difficult to verify that an account is indeed the voice of a constituent and not a bot for fake account created to support the cause.

Researchers found that the best method of getting a message to decision makers and seeing results is by speaking directly to them or their team. Face-to-face meetings and phone calls carry significantly more weight than email or social media communications.

So while it might feel good to send off an email with your opinions to your representatives, you’re more likely to get results by picking up the phone. 

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
ProGreen addresses the business of the green industry
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ProGreen addresses the business of the green industry