Statement+of+Research+Topic

= Statement of Research =

New media technologies, including internet social media platforms, are increasingly fragmenting audiences. As such, we are steadily moving away from the idea of the mass audiences to a more focused audience that is based on common interests and attracts likeminded people with common goals and beliefs. The internet then, which boasts unlimited information on a plethora of topics, functions not as a tool of mass instruction, but as a tool for tailoring information and creating communities of knowledge around common interests. These new global communities of knowledge are marked most by the increase of dialogue that allows all participants to contribute on a common ground.

While many organizations have flourished around the dialogical model, there remains a noteworthy group that has yet to tap into the full potential of online social media. Nonprofit organizations should be perfect candidates for social media because they are relationship-driven organizations and because social media is less expensive and more effective then conventional media. However, nonprofit organizations have lacked foresight and expertise in the area making many attempts at utilizing the media unsuccessful and short lived.

Shepherds of Good Hope is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the homeless in the Ottawa community. Their vision is, “embracing a complete cultural shift – one of creating healing environments for clients and residents through advanced training programs for staff and by employing creative, leading-edge programs specialized to the needs of the individuals in our care.” They like many nonprofit organizations have struggled with dwindling involvement and a volunteer/donor base that consists almost exclusively of elderly females. While the organization has volunteers, especially throughout holiday seasons, in order to sustain their many operations, they will need to acquire a larger donor database that consists of younger populations.

In an attempt to utilize social media, Shepherds has fallen into many of the faux pas that seem to plague social media. Shepherds created a website and a Facebook group, however they do not have the manpower to keep it up-to-date. Shepherds has also not taken advantage of the dialogical opportunities that social media create nor have they made an attempt to further their online presence on other social media sites.

In partnership with Shepherds we will be researching the direction that their organization should take in the social media realm in order to achieve their goal of doubling their existing database. As a community service learning partnership, Shepherds has assured that the necessary manpower will be provided in order to ensure that their online presence will be kept current. Our group has the task of researching what social media platforms should be used and how they can be used to their full potential for this specific organizations. The following outlines how we will achieve our goal.