Next wave of activist lobbying: 'Hijack' Congress members' Facebook profiles

Advocacy campaigns have found a new way to get noticed by lawmakers: taking over their Facebook profiles and bombarding them with tweets about the cause.

The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress, which is advocating for human rights for women and children in Congo, has asked supporters to "politely hijack" the Facebook pages of members of Congress.

The campaign is targeting 10 members, blanketing their profiles with pleas for them to sign on as co-sponsors to the Conflict Minerals Trade Act, which would monitor the global trade of goods that fuel violence in Congo. 

The so-called "profile hijacking" could be the next wave of citizen lobbying, as Facebook gives activists easy access to members' official profiles.

Supporters of the bill have blanketed the Facebook pages of, for example, Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) Sander Levin (D-Mich.), Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.).

One supporter wrote on Pence's Facebook wall, "Please stand up for human rights, for trade that doesn't endanger the lives of women and children."

On Levin's page, another supporter wrote, "Over 5 million people have died as a result of the war in Congo. Please co-sponsor HR 4128."

The members targeted by the social media blitz are chairs and senior members of the House Foreign Affairs or Ways and Means Committees who have signaled that they are close to supporting the trade bill.

The Enough Project says the social media blitz is getting results. Boozman started following the project on Twitter and is now a co-sponsor of the bill, said the campaign's Communications Director Jonathan Hutson.

Ros-Lehtinen told the Miami Herald she is "deeply grateful when constituents and folks who care deeply about an issue use every avenue to communicate their opinions with me."

But there are likely members out there who aren't so keen on having their Facebook profiles hijacked, especially during re-election campaign season. It will be interesting to see if there is any sort of backlash against this type of outreach.

Update: We've checked with Facebook, and blanketing a user's profile with comments is not against the site's terms of service.