GetUp! began in 2005. It is an Australian grass-roots community advocacy organisation that aims to build an accountable and progressive Australian Parliament, and for this reason it does not support any particular political party ('About GetUp!, FAQ (GetUp!)', n.d.). GetUp.org.au claims it is 'an independent political movement to build a progressive Australia' bringing 'like-minded people' together 'who want to bring participation back into our democracy'. GetUp!'s website is core to the network governance of the group. GetUp members number 350,000 (about 5% of the population). Members are asked to forward the emails they receive from GetUp! to 'five friends' and, according to GetUp!, through this act messages can reach millions (28 April 2010). Thus GetUp! conducts viral snowball campaigns to create a groundswell of action through: 1) bite-size emails which inform members of the latest issue that needs political action; 2) promotional videos on YouTube; 3) advertisements in national newspapers and on national television; 4) and the development of political campaign skills through Community Organizing Workshops based on 'Camp Obama'. So GetUp!'s aim is independent media activism mainly activated through the communicative space of the Internet. The purpose of this paper is to analyse a sample of GetUp!'s videos that are used as visual media tools to engage members and the wider citizenry. The author concludes that GetUp!'s YouTube videos are potent and effective as tactics to gain access to the 'symbolic power' of the mainstream media (Couldry 2002) and at the same time retain control over production of their campaign messages. Tactics include production of visual media to be used as an 'information source' (Grabe & Bucy 2009, p. 26), and viral communication which is effective in creating a 'media buzz' (Castells 2009, p. 334)