From Women On Banknotes, To The Sun's Mental Health Coverage: How Online Campaigning Won 2013

How Online Campaigning Won 2013
Left to right, Mary Macleod, a Conservative member of parliament, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, Stella Creasy, a Labour and Co-operative member of parliament, and Caroline Criado-Perez, co-founder of the Women's Room, pose for a photograph following the presentation of the concept design for the new Bank of England ten pound banknote, featuring author Jane Austen at the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, near Alton, U.K., on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Jane Austen will appear on
Left to right, Mary Macleod, a Conservative member of parliament, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, Stella Creasy, a Labour and Co-operative member of parliament, and Caroline Criado-Perez, co-founder of the Women's Room, pose for a photograph following the presentation of the concept design for the new Bank of England ten pound banknote, featuring author Jane Austen at the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, near Alton, U.K., on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Jane Austen will appear on
Bloomberg via Getty Images

Online campaigning certainly has its critics.

In a forthcoming book, researchers from Oxford University say they have found 99.9% of e-petitions fail to reach the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger the possibility of a Commons debate.

Most barely register on the radar of the powerful. But when they catch the public's imagination, they can change the world and right a wrong. And pretty quickly too.

"Facebook likes don't change the world, nor do petition signatures or retweets - or, for that matter, demonstrations or marches," says Change.org's John Coventry.

"What does change the world is groups of people taking collective action, building powerful movements and creating strategic campaigns around causes they believe in."

And 2013 might not have been the year that online campaigning began, but it was the year it became embedded in the fabric of our democracy.

It was the year that any major news story was followed by a campaign on Change.org, or Avaaz, on 38 Degrees, or the Government's e-petition site. More than 1,039,820 people took part in a campaign where action was taken as a result of a petition on Change.org.

So does online campaigning change anything? Just ask Caroline Criado-Perez.

Close

What's Hot