How to Create a Petition

1.   Focus: Usually when we’re infuriated or moved by an issue or an incident, our thoughts gets clouded by our emotional involvement into the matter. Don’t worry, it’s a good thing. Only if emotions are involved, will there be passion to pursue a petition till the target. But amidst the passion, it’s important to get your thoughts organized. So while there are many factors and multiple issues linked to an incident or state of affairs, narrow your focus on what you’d like to address and change. For e.g., Increasing pollution in the city can be changed by planting more trees starting in our own backyards and neighborhoods.

2.   Writing: This will ‘make or break’ of your petition. It is your words that will leave a deep impact in the minds of the readers to offer much more than just a sympathy card or a ‘like’ button. A few points to keep in mind while you compose your letter (Also read what has worked for other petitioners!)  Some tips:

  • Make the background brief. Share hyperlinks to other sites or your own blog if you feel the need for elaboration. Clearly state your demands/requests, reasons and the better consequences that it will lead to for the public at large.
  • While many requests or demands are challenging to realize, you must try and rally for an actionable request that the authority (in question) can concede to.
  • Formalities must not be forgiven because it’s an online petition. If there is a specific format that requires to be followed in your local constituency, make sure to follow it. Officials and bureaucrats are likely to pay more serious attention to it.
  • Stick to a (more or less) formal language in your letter with a tone that sounds like you want to be taken seriously but refrain from ranting.
  • Spell check and grammar, too! U vill not trst any petetion writing like this.

3.     Setting a target & goal: It’s easy to get carried away with ambition and quote an unrealistic figure. Especially, if you’re the kinds who want to meet their targets and not just create noise, carefully think through how many signatures you would actually require for a given issue for it to stir things up in the said constituency, body or institution. However, don’t end up grossly undermining the potential support an issue can get. Also, make sure that the ultimate goal of your petition (for instance, the removal of nicotine or alcohol advertisements from billboards situated near school sites) is attainable.  

4.     Promotion: 

  • Email: Once you have started a petition, Halabol will sent an email appeal to all its subscribers as well as the email list provided by you to share this information with. If a petition stirs something within you, SIGN it and SHARE it with your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail list. Email will help to ensure that the subscribers will not miss out the progress updates of the petition in their overcrowded social networking news feeds.
  • Share on Social Media: Needless to say, those who start and sign should reach out to the junta via their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and post the petition on their own blogs. Join online forums around the topic/issue and enlighten people about your part in the movement in Facebook pages with similar interests and agenda.
  • Useful tip #1: Turn on your subscribe button on Facebook so you can selectively share news and information like this, which can be viewed by general public on your profile. Unprotect your updates on Twitter and use popular hashtags, like in a petition of checking poaching in Gir forest and re-populating the tiger species, you can use #savethetigers (Don’t forget #halabol in all cases)
  • Useful tip #2: Reach out to thought leaders, non profits, media outlets and personnel, celebrities and to the Government itself on Twitter/Facebook. No, we don’t suggest hounding anyone but carefully plan and strategize how to effectively pitch your petition to them. Most likely, you’ll only get one good shot (or two if you’re lucky!).  

5.     Update: Let your petition page be the Mecca for all news updates and additional information (blogs, wikipedia entries) and multimedia (Youtube videos, photographs, images, cartoons, book and movie reviews, documentaries, short stills, public service announcements) on the issue or incident in question. While you may be busy trying to reach out to all those concerned, you may also like to check out what sort of initiatives have been taken online and offline before, after and simultaneously. This build up of cross-posted information adds traction to your petition.

6.     Online to on ground: There is no greater validity you can give to a petition than actually getting on your heels and scraping your elbows. Organize a rally or a ‘mela’ or offline petitioners meet to collect signatures from people on the streets, in the park or in a campus. The sky is your limit!