Pronuclear Activism in Cyberspace

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Pro-nuclear Activism in Cyberspace

• Lisa Stiles-Shell
• Nuclear Energy Institute
• Public Affairs Council National Grassroots
  Conference
• St. Petersburg, FL
• January 25, 2007

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Who Bloggers Are

• Split between men and women
• Youthful
• Online veterans
• Affluent and well educated
• Racially diverse

Sources Delahaye, Pew Internet and American Life
Project
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Who Reads Blogs

• Highly active and involved
• 76.9 have signed a petition
• 75.4 have written or called a politician
• 46.1 have written letter to editor/called a
  radio program
• 37.8 have attended political rally, or organized
  protest of any kind

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Most Popular Blogs

• March 2005
• Instapundit
• Daily Kos
• LGF
• Michelle Malkin
• Powerline
• Talking Points Memo
• Eschaton
• Captains Quarters
• The Volokh Conspiracy

• December 2005
• Boing Boing
• PostSecret
• Engadget
• Daily Kos
• The Huffington Post
• Gizmodo
• Instapundit
• Dooce
• Michelle Malkin
• Crooks and Liars

• November 2006
• Engadget
• Boing Boing
• Microsoft Online
• Gizmodo
• ?? ??? ??BLOG
• The Huffington Post
• Techcrunch
• Daily Kos
• PostSecret
• Lifehacker

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Why Blogs are Important

• Old media is fracturing
• Information overload
• Circulation and ratings are dropping, media
  companies radically slashing payrolls
• Bloggers stepping into breach
• The Power of Google
• Influence is measured by the search engine
• Frequency and incoming links determine
  credibility
• Google owns Blogger, the most popular blogging
  engine

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Impact of Blogs
Many major candidates now employ staffers focused
on the debate as it unfolds in the political
blogosphere in recognition of the fact that blogs
are playing an ever-growing role in the political
agenda, at the national, state, and local levels.
Center for Democracy and Technology October
2006
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Advantages of Blogs

• Easy to create and updateno coding or web design
  skills needed!
• Blog community enables and stimulates discussion
• Real-time response
• Personalizes issues

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Disadvantages of Blogs

• No common credibility measures
• Control issues
• Must build an audience
• And...

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You Know Youre a Blog Addict When

• ... you have more blog friends than 'real life'
  friends.
• ... you're blogging in your head before you fall
  asleep.
• ... you tell your friends and family things like,
  "I'll ping you and you ping me back," or "Okay, I
  want to trackback on your last comment..."
• ... you blog in your head an event that's
  happening at that very moment!

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Timeline NEI Nuclear Notes

• http//neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com
• Why blog?
• First pitched May 2004
• Launch Feb. 2005
• 17 months 100,000th visitor
• 21 months 150,000th visitor
• Industry, academia, government and anti-nukes
  too!

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Case Study Loose Nukes

• Aug. 2005 Alert readers that reporters had
  attempted to infiltrate university research
  reactors
• Sept. 2005 Regular updates
• Oct 2005 Story airs
• Countered blogs that picked up story
• Results
• 4,000 readers, Sept. 2005
• 16,000 readers, Oct. 2005
• ABC News forced to issue press release defending
  reporting
• Deleted discussion forum on series when public
  criticism wouldnt let up

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Lessons Learned

• Establish credibility before the crisis
• Early activity drove Google searches to us
• Became online rallying point for industry
• Got inside the ABC News decision loop
• In wake of story, ABC News investigative unit
  started their own blog

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Case Study Helen Caldicott

• Began chapter by chapter debunking of new book as
  her tour began in September 2006
• Organized pro-nuclear activists to attend events
• Followed up with posts from those who attended
• Results
• 300 readers per day before campaign 600 after
• Caldicott forced to defend book and acknowledge
  NEI critique on radio and television
• Caldicott began to refuse to take questions for
  fear of confronting well-informed pro-nukes

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Lessons Learned

• Ongoing activity essential
• Multiple posts for every public appearance
• Use online activity to generate real-world
  participation
• Use blog content as ammunition for press
  appearances and public challenges

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When Even Your Enemies Know Your Talking Points

• Some people here do believe in nuclear power,
  but there are also nuclear industry trolls here
  at dkos who are pushing it. They make repetitive
  talking points to the point of absurdity on why
  they support it
• Anti-Nuke Activist at Daily Kos
• The Webs Leading Progressive Blog
• August 23, 2006

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How to Find Blogs

• www.technorati.com
• www.blogsearch.google.com
• www.feedster.com

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How to Start a Blog

• www.blogger.com
• www.typepad.com
• www.blogware.com

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Blogging Tips

• Be brief
• Be factual
• Never engage in a personal attack
• Honesty transparency accountability
• CREDIBILITY
• If rules get broken, violators get punished
• Dont push the culture at least not too hard

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Going Forward

• Encourage pro-nuclear bloggers
• Webcasts and podcasts
• Web commercials?
• Blog interaction

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Pro-nuclear Activism in Cyberspace

• Lisa Stiles-Shell
• Nuclear Energy Institute
• Public Affairs Council National Grassroots
  Conference
• St. Petersburg, FL
• January 25, 2007