Research on Congress indicates that representatives and senators pay little or no attention to mass mailings of postcards and form letters - these devices require little effort on the part of the writer and they are recognized as part of an organized campaign by a given group. Much more effective are hand written or unique typed letters that convey the same message - when members of Congress get a large number of these, they pay attention. This again demonstrates that citizen activism requires effort - symbolic efforts that show little commitment are ignored.