Online Petition for Gathering Support for Your Social Campaign

Whether it is about gathering support for a social campaign or demonstrating the increasing strength behind a cause--petitioning is a powerful form of generating expressions of solidarity and collective grassroots opinions.

Gone are the days when organizers went about collecting signatures from door-to-door or by stopping people on streets; to collect their signatures in-person. Online petitions have made the task very easy in contemporary times. With geographical barriers no longer a restraint; social media sites, emails, networking forums and portals dedicated to collecting online support are being increasingly used to spread the word about a social campaign.

What is an e-petition?

It is a powerful component of a well managed campaign toolkit. You can access the same on the website on which it is posted and file your online support by adding your name and/or email address. Electronic signing can require certain other personal details about you. It will be sent to you via email/regular mailing service or hand delivered.

Steps for creating a successful online petition

If you want to advocate a cause online then follow the steps given below:

1.    Do your background research and see if the social campaign started by you exists on sites like Avaaaz or Care2.
2.    Connect with reputed and established organizations dedicated to your cause and ask their help in creating impactful statements for your campaign.
3.    Get your facts straight and determine the people, groups or organizations which could help you reach a larger audience.
4.    Choose a site for hosting your campaign.
5.    Create a strong title and statement and clearly explain its goals and purposes.
6.    Devise a strategy to spread awareness about your social campaign and make sure that you garner the maximum support for the cause. Create an achievable plan for     promoting the same and try to get as many signatures as possible.
7.    Be accountable for your cause and take out time to check the validity of the online signatures.

Challenges faced by your e-petition

•    People signing online are anonymous in nature and there is an absence of one-to-one contact with the signees. Under the circumstances, the chance of potential   abuse of the cause is quite high and this may render the same illegitimate.  
•    These are taken less seriously, as just about anyone can set up a campaign for any cause.
•    It becomes difficult to give authority to the movement as verification of online signatures can prove to be very challenging.

Remember, to create the greatest impact and gather the maximum support for your social campaign --your online petition should be well formatted, highly credible and must speak volumes about your concern for public interest.

Halabol is an online platform that gives you the opportunity to take a step forward and make the effort needed towards the change you wish to see. Members of team Halabol have written several articles on current burning issues related to social work, petitions, online petition, environment, minorities, children & women education, lifestyle, youth affairs, social work India,social good, social campaign and animal right.