Emailing is the a basic yet vital tool for effective digital organizing. There are four main ways of using email in organizing, one-on-one email, email discussion lists (many to many), email blasting lists (one to many) and the email/web interface (person to machine).
Below is a basic answer to what is email and then a description of these four uses of email and lins to more detailed guides to effective email organizer.
Email is a protocol for message delivery also known as Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Email is delivered from server to server using the SMTP protocol and then accessed using email clients such as Eudora, Thunderbird and Outlook using protocols such as POP and IMAP. Email is also often accesed directy on the web using mail services like Gmail, Yahoo, and a million other free email services.
Most young people have been using one-on-one email for a long long time and are very effective using email for personal and professional communications. For most organizers email can become overwhelming with hundreds of emails coming in every day. To remain an effective email communicator a good email strategy and the right tools are essential. Read the One-to-One email guide for some tips.
Email list serves are a critical tool for good collaboration and communication in grassrrots groups and coalitions. This becomes especially important when organizing in regional, state and national networks where face to face meetings are not possible. In order to be effective at using email list serves its important to have good tools and know how to use them. Check out the list serves section for more on many-to-many email.
Email blasting is a critical component of larger scale organizing. It can be used effectively at local, regional and national levels and can build momentum and engage people in many types of on and offline action. With good strategy and the right tools email blasting can be a high return organizing tactic. With bad strategy or the wrong tools it can be a waste of time. Read more in the Email Blasting guide.
Increasingly around the web the email/web interface is being bridged to help make the web experience richer and more effective. Examples include Email-a-Friend tools, automated email content update delivery, email photo uploads, email-listserve/forum hybrids. Read more in the email/web interface section.
A mailing list is simply a list of addresses to which the same information is being sent. If you were a magazine publisher, you would have a list of the mailing addresses of all the subscribers to the magazine. In the case of an electronic mailing list, we use a list of email addresses from people interested in hearing about or discussing a given topic.
Two common types of email mailing lists are announcement lists and discussion lists.
Announcement lists are used so that one person or group can send announcements to a group of people, much like a magazine publisher's mailing list is used to send out magazines. For example, a band may use an announcement mailing list to let their fan base know about their upcoming concerts. See also Mass Emailing.
A discussion list allows a group of people to discuss topics amongst themselves, with everyone able to send mail to the list and have it distributed to everyone in the group. This discussion may also be moderated, so only selected posts are sent on to the group as a whole, or only certain people are allowed to send to the group. For example, a group of model plane enthusiasts might use a discussion mailing list to share tips about model construction and flying.
Email as you would want to be emailed.
Respect is the biggest rule with listservs, when you email a list you are emailing a lot of people. For lists to be effective all members need to be respectful.
Respect other list members and try to:
In order to avoid having your emails held for moderation:
For some hilarious list humor that outlines some of these points check out… http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2005/5/16stoeckel.html
There are two ways to get started using listservs, the first is to use a service provided a company or non-profit. Sometimes these are provided with ads, which sucks but is sometimes worth it. Other service providers host lists for free with no strings attached.
Some listserv service providers
Setting Up and Using a Listserv
The other way to go is to use listserv software on your own server. This can be the most flexible solution but is big investment and is often not possible or practicle for grassroots organizations.