“We begin to accelerate the pace of change”

Ben Rattray is the founder and CEO of Change.org, the world's largest petition platform with more than 90 million users in 196 countries.

He took part in the conference entitled “The Internet and Citizen Empowerment” organised on 13 April 2015 at Sciences Po. Interview.

• To what extent is online activism really effective ? Can it be more than a complement to offline campaigns?

The simple answer is yes! More than 90 million people come to Change.org to create change, and now we’re seeing a victory almost every hour. In other words, we see ordinary people create extraordinary change every day, and as more people take action more often, we begin to accelerate the pace of change.

In addition, the very nature of the Internet -- the massive number of people you can reach, the ability to share content easily, and the possibility for virality -- has transformed petitions into a powerful advocacy tool. But the core element of a winning online petition actually has little to do with technology; rather, it’s still a compelling personal story. We encourage Change.org users to write petitions about issues that matter deeply to them, and those stories then resonate with like-minded people who can rally alongside the petition starter to make a difference.

It’s also worth noting that starting a petition is the beginning of a movement. When you launch a Change.org petition, you can immediately follow up with the people who have signed and ask them to take further action. And it’s that ability to have access to real communities of people that makes this simple tool so powerful. In just a few hours, ordinary people can now find hundreds of thousands of supporters and build grassroots movements.

And companies and politicians are taking notice. For example Crédit Agricole or Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.

• Can any topic or issue be brought to light on your platform, or do you filter them? If so, how would you describe the ideological view of Change.org ?

Just as YouTube is the world’s open platform for videos, Change.org is the world’s open platform for petitions. What this means is that anyone can use Change.org regardless of who they are, where they live, and what they believe - and that means the petitions you see on Change.org have been created by people in the community, not staff at Change.org, across a wide range of issues from all sides of the political and social spectrum.

Since our mission is to empower people everywhere to create the change they want to see, and our vision is a world where no one is powerless, we believe being open for anyone to use, however they choose, is the best way to fulfil that mission and vision.

• Does online activism encourage people to get more involved in the political life of their country or, on the contrary, discourage them from doing so by providing a sense of accomplishment with a single click?

We firmly believe that small actions like signatures, are often the first step towards deeper engagement. We often see people using Change.org alongside other channels, such as reaching out to government and media, attending offline events, and sharing the story with their networks. In fact, having a Change.org petition signed by many others who believe in the same cause, helps people advocate more effectively, even when they are also using more traditional channels.

With the power of technology and the Internet, this is now the best time in history for people to campaign on issues they care about. And in addition to providing an important set of tools for citizens, we are also building the tools for government officials, and other decision makers, to engage with the conversations that happen on Change.org and respond directly to their constituents.