JC has submitted the following to put into its own post so all your comments on these subjects might better reside in one place to keep them together. It’s another opportunity to suggest and for others to read ways those of you who more technologically savvy than I can spread the word:
One of the unstated objectives of The Isaac Brock Community is to spread “the word” of the injustices of US FATCA, CBT, and FBAR; and about the efforts of ADCS and plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, and the need for donations to ADCS. Speaking with family, friends and other US-defined *US persons* is one way. Writing letters, sending e-mails, and commenting on news articles are other ways.
Community members can share their strategies and tactics for Twitter, Facebook, and other medium in the comments below. For instance, JC may report that there are a dedicated few who are trying to keep the issue of US tax claims in London Mayor Boris Johnson’s Twitter timeline. Let’s hope Mr. Johnson takes notice and applies some of what he learned on leadership from Winston Churchill. Even if he does not act with encouragement of these tweets, others who are tweeting the Lord Mayor of London may take notice.
A few weeks back JC tried to contact Canada’s Commander Chris Hadfield by e-mail and Twitter to try to recruit him to the cause. There has not been a response (as expected). Yet JC may report that all of his tweets to his 1.2 million Twitter followers are about science and space. None about politics. Perhaps this is the way he wishes to keep his brand “Hadfield”.
Kijiji: Free Classifieds in Canada. There have been enough comments on Kijiji by our brilliant LM over the weeks to perhaps have its own feature.
As new posts quickly become old posts and lost in the number we have (See and Search the Isaac Brock Society Archive of Posts), perhaps there is some way information about Kijiji can be included in the resources listed in the right-hand column of our Home Page.
Your thoughts and suggestions for best spreading the word with Kijiji, Twitter, Facebook, etc.?
A great idea. I put a link to this thread under “Take Action!” in the sidebar and added it to the “Anti-FACTA Publicity and Protest Materials” page.
In the U.S. the two political parties have merged in their ideas and methods of governing. Our slide downhill started with the election of senators, and the establishing an income tax, both which required a constitutional amendment. Both parties lied about what each would do.
If we’d never passed these amendments there would be no need for The Issac Brock Society, because we’d be taxing in a way other than the Income Tax, which the founders were dead set against. A bunch of Marxist’s got it passed by using the ”Big Lie”. The poor and middle class thought they’d never pay, so soaking the ”evil rich” suited them fine. Look where it has led us and Marx knew it would. (2nd chapter of his manifesto)
The election of senators was the same. The founders wanted the direct election of the people’s house and the appointment of the ”upper chamber”. If an election changed governors and house members, they simply recall the senator and appoint one aligned with their party’s mind set.
Both parties are aligned with keeping both these amendments. We may as well have Gorbachev or Putin as our leader because we now have a communal alliance between the two parties, so why not merge them to where they were in 1852, The Democrat/Republican Party.
Thanks so much, pacifica!
Here’s a link to the “footer” that I have been putting below my “signature/name” on virtually every email I have been sending over the past few weeks (to people I know and people I am interacting with for any purpose. I plan to continue to send this “footer” on all my emails until the end of the 1st week in January. After that, I will continue the pattern tho will change the text to incorporate something like:
For Valentines Day, show your love of country by ………
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/10/22/97975-more-needed-to-make-the-february-1-2015-payment-for-canadian-fatca-iga-lawsuit-il-nous-reste-97-975-a-ramasser-pour-notre-poursuite-judiciaire/comment-page-20/#comment-4379046)
This short intro to FATCA, IBS and ADCS has also been copied onto half-page sheets that I hand out to shop and grocery clerks, at the library, theatre and dry-cleaners, at political debate gatherings and other such lecture meetings, one-the-street religion-and/or-charity hawkers (who are giving away their own materials). Such “small fliers” could also be handed out while one is walking around at the local indoor pottery or Xmas-craft show or outdoor street-festival. (NOTE, I have access to inexpensive printing, otherwise it can add up).
And who was it, back in the spring, that was encouraging us all to purchase small banner ads in our small local newspapers?
Lastly, one could arrange for a community or small-group presentatio/discussionn about FATCA (think your local church men’s group or library or apres-sports coffee with your curling or hockey club) Certainly John Richards does a fantastic job of this but for those of you who are pretty knowledgble and feisty enough to broach the topic, why not…..
Bit by bit, spread the word! Bit by bit, raise the cash……..
(can you see my cheerleader pompoms flashing? Sorry, at my age I can’t do the cartwheels anymore ….. )
I have placed three ads on Kijiji Ottawa, so will try to share a bit of my experience.
One problem I find with Kijiji is there is no category for “public service announcements” or the like. The closest I can find are “services” and “community”. You cannot put an ad under these general headings, you must place it at a lower level. The two levels I have used are:
services > financial, legal
community > activities, groups
Neither is a very good fit. The first time I placed an ad, I paid for all the bells and whistles, for about $80. This got more viewers, but (of course) at higher cost, about $1 per view. I think the most cost effective investment is paying to have the ad “bumped” to the first page. It costs $3 or $4 each time. I wait until the ad gets down to page 3 or 4.
Some IBS have found that posting duplicate ads resulted in one of these being taken down by Kijiji. I have got around this by making each ad different, in particular different titles and illustrations. I have used two titles:
“Lawsuit against Government of Canada”
“Lawsuit affecting US citizens in Canada and Canada-US duals”
The former seems to have drawn more views, whether under “services” or “community”. Some of these are surely drawn by curiosity and have no further interest.
I am unable to provide unequivocal advice, I am afraid.
perhaps a set of templates could be developed and rotated
the templates could be very minimal to allow for regional factors
titles could be chosen so as not to duplicate
and/or current links to Take Action page so all could see what is up and compose/post accordingly
I still like the idea of going talon to talon with the compliance condors. They tend to offer their “services” in the Financial/Legal section of Kijiji. However, no matter what section we place our ad in, as long as it has FATCA in the title, it appears on the same page where the condors are congregating to snatch up FATCA clients … whenever someone actually searches the term, that is. I feel it is a good service for us to offer all potential condor clients a place to go find a wealth of information and support (i.e. Brock) and a means to fight back against the injustice of FATCA (i.e. the ADCS fund). I was thinking of doing a Kijiji ad aimed at someone searching for FATCA information which goes something like this …
Ad Title: FATCA — FIRST step is to learn more from others who are affected by this law.
Any suggestions for better wording? Is it too punchy or not punchy enough? Would the image of the arm of the IRS shaking down the man be too punchy to use? See it here …
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/what-is-fatca-draft/
@Tricia some sort of coordination with templates of letters or other efforts would be good.
When commenting on articles I try to encourage visiting of this website and also ADCS.
In terms of social media, if we may get some free Google Analytics on ADCS site we may have some statistics as to how people get to it, including being referred from Twitter, Facebook, etc. Does Kijiji allow direct links?
In terms of Twitter, it is a really good source for articles on FATCA and other related issues as people tend to “Tweet” them. You may also tweet someone and this is another means of trying to contact someone besides letters, and e-mails. Retweeting or favoriting someone else’s tweet helps it stay higher in the lists of Tweets for that person.
As this post is about contact, my next mini effort will be directed at the Australian Tax Office (ATO) as on their website explaining what are tax treaties, it says that Australia has over 40 tax treaties and that they “prevent double taxation.” There is no special note for US persons. Austrade is another Australian website that copies such language.
A key here is perpetuation of the myth that there is no problem; there is no double taxation. What ain’t broke can not be fixed. I will hint to the ATO that their web information is not correct, and suggest a change. I’ll send copies of the last two Laura Saunders articles with relevant parts about double taxation highlighted. I have an organisation chart and a few addresses to send “suggestions.” It will be about six letters sent priority then see what happens. My dilemma with letters is I don’t want to put my name and address. I’ll put my twitter handle. I’ll probably also send a few tweets to them.
I like it, including the illustration, EmBee – right to the point with your title.
Grateful for everyone’s efforts here.
@ EmBee –
I think the text of your Kijiji is absolutely perfect – – clear and not too lengthy, raising the most important issue and offering more places to gain information. I need to update my Oakville and Hamilton ads and will be using this wording.
On the two ads I have up now, I’ve gotten little traffic (both in the Legal Services section); got more interest when the ads were posted under the Community/Discussion section. Also, in the Community/Discussion section they stayed on page 1 a lot longer than in Legal Services, so didn’t get lost behind lots of other ads. I’ve tended to use the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms visual in combination with the being-shredded paper with the word PRIVACY on it.
There are a lot of good visuals available for such Kijiji ads at: Anti-FATCA Publicity and Protest Materials for use On-Line and Hard Copy under TAKE ACTION (see right column) or:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/what-is-fatca-draft/
@ LM
There are no Community/Discussion listings in our area and when my husband tried to post under that category to start it off the ad didn’t appear. That was when he switched to Financial/Legal (total of 100 hits on two slightly different wordings). He’s going to take down those two and put up the new one with a change up on the visuals. He wanted to post the video too but somehow that didn’t work either. We’re learning …
@ JC
That is not a “mini” effort. That is helping to the max. Thank you.
Embee – interesting that there are different Kijiji categories in different communities. Guess you take what is available and go with it. 100 hits is stupendous!
And, yes, JC you deserve a whole bunch of cyber-hugs and kudos for your amazing efforts. Now, if we can just find a few other Brockers to do some Kijijing in other Canadian cities…..
@ LM
The category is there but nobody has used it and my husband’s attempt to use it didn’t work. Go figure! Maybe discussions aren’t a big thing in this part of Canada. Slowly but surely we will suss out the kijiji mysteries.
@EmBee
Your ad is perfect!
@JC
\We have Analytics if not something else as well and can see where clicks are coming from.
Kijiji allows clicks as far as I know bc I can see them for instance, here on the dashboard.
In Canada, we have this new, annoying ant-spam law which can limit our ability to tweet, email etc
For example, I cannot simply tweet every single member of Parliament anymore. Even Twitter doesn’t allow that and they suspend if they catch you.
Test time. All advertising needs to withstand the test of effectiveness.
I would like to see a thread dedicated to new members here that first found out about IBS through Kijiji and if there are no posts I move that these efforts be discontinued as a waste of time. So….is there anyone out there that came here due to an ad on Kijiji in the last month? Please take this opportunity to post here.
@NoWarToys @Tricia says she sees the clickthroughs to the ADCS site . I am not familiar with Kijiji. It could be a very low cost way of building awareness. There might be some other free means of gaining awareness that are effective as well. @Tricia, could you tell us the top sources of referral from the ADCS site?
@Calgary411 thanks for the feature.
@Trish & all – for everyone’s clarification, do you know how many emails or tweets to people that one is not connected with as a friend/acquaintance/business/charity relationship it takes to be seen as committing “SPAM”? Is there a limit per day or per week?
If I were to email from my own personal email account say 10 people per day from, for example, the “famous folks” list, is that considered “SPAM”? What if these same 10 people were to be sent a snail mail letter? Or a once/week tweet? Does it take 20 tweets to make “SPAM”? Or 5 tweets to the same person?
Anyone know the rules well enough to provide guidance other than “don’t tweet or email someone you have no connection with”? If someone has their tweet or email address listed on their website, are they not inviting tweeters or emailers? Can one tweet or email about anything or only in relation to their professional role/activities (e.g. a celebrity musician or novelist)?
Is there anything in this realm that we can do that won’t be perceived as SPAM, or is it totally in the eyes of the “recipient-beholder”? It’s probably best to avoid the possibility of being pursued on account of SPAM activities, but does anyone know the rules here?
@ NoWarToys
Unfortunately there are many lurkers here at Brock who never join in so we’d never know how they came here. Sometimes these lurkers give us a thank you AFTER they get their CLN, when they feel safer. I too would love to know if anyone found Brock and ADCS via Kijiji or any other means but I understand silent lurking because I did that at first myself.
@ LM and All
Our latest Kijiji ad has been up less than a week. Sorry to report only 20 views so far but this is not exactly the time of year people’s thoughts turn to things like FATCA so we’ll just see if things pick up in the new year. (It took over a month to get 100 views between our 2 previous ads.) In our area there are only 2 ads on the FATCA page right now — ours and a compliance condor’s.
It doesn’t take much time to do this and doesn’t cost anything so it’s still worth a try for anyone else who cares join in the Kijiji promotion. I don’t have multiple e-mail accounts but my husband does so we placed the ad using one of his and used a postal code in our area but not our own. I understand there is really very little anonymity on the internet but we did the best we could.
Surgite! … and Kijiji too, if you can.
Our Tweeties over in Twitterland have been prompting signatures for a White House Petition which reads:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/put-end-fatca-and-stop-taxing-americans-around-world-simply-being-american-citizens/X3PzK5jy
In case anyone is able/inclined, an ad in kijiji etc could help promote our crowdfunding campaign. Because it’s a hard to choose where, I paid for a homepage listing where it can be seen. This is special and probably good for Christmas with the coupons!I just put it in community: groups and activities bc it doesn’t fit well anywhere else.
Advantage of homepage is an tickertape-type ribbon runs across the top of page and everybody who comes to the main page can scroll through the icons, click on and go directly to the page. Since I have been placing these for 2 years I am sticking with the NO FATCA icon because we have had thousands of views over that time period. So folks who have seen it before/have some idea what it is or know because they are affected will recognize. I would not use this icon if I were just starting up esp in a small town, etc. Also – keeping a Canadian focus on this with the pictures etc. And the FINA video.
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-activities-groups/city-of-toronto/fight-fatca-in-canada-crowdfunding-campaign/1039996406?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
RBC is doing a promo on Twitter for the World Junior Hockey championship. If you reply to their Tweet, you get a photo of a “customized” Team Canada hockey jersey. I’ve got mine. Maybe we can put together a Brocker 4th line!
My jersey is the one with the name @No_FATCA on the back. Thank you RBC!
https://twitter.com/rbc/status/548557815048986624