Turning Facebook Likes Into Action

How technology was used to upend Cape Town’s punitive water tariff.

- Jonathan Erasmus

ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES faced by social activists is transforming a Facebook “like” or Twitter re-tweet into real-world action. In the advertising world it is referred to as the conversion rate – taking a person from being merely interested to actually casting a vote or making a purchase.

This “conversion rate” has spawned entire industries along with consultants, armies of specialists and researchers to help drive commerce.

For activists and nonprofit organisations around the world finding a method that helps the public engage successfully on issues is the goal.

Johannesburg resident Rob Hutchinson, who helped launch one of South Africa’s most prominent nonprofits, the Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), believes he may have just found South African’s “sweet spot”. And like all good ideas, it’s quite simple. It all started in early January when Hutchinson had just left OUTA after a public fallout with the executive, most notably OUTA’s managing director Wayne Duvenage.

Meanwhile, Cape Town was in the midst of its worst water crisis in 100 years, with strict usage conditions imposed on residents who drastically reduced their personal consumption. Their anger was highly visible on social media when the city proposed adding a punitive charge of R150- a-month to the water bills of 52,510 Capetonians in order to plug the R1.6-billion loss in revenue the council had suffered from reduced water consumption. The public submission deadline was 15 January 2018.

Hutchinson, along with Sandra Dickson, a Cape Town-based activist, saw the opportunity and launched www.DearCapeTown.co.za – a website dedicated to activating public participation on local government issues in Cape Town.