key+findings

In order to effectively ascertain the practices for social networking which could potentially prove most useful for the Shepherds of Good Hope, the group outlined a number of questions regarding social networking use in the philanthropic sector, as well as the social networking behaviour of the 20-35 year-old demographic. The group used an online survey of 20-35 year old social networking users to answer two of its research questions. XX 'What social media sites should Shepherds of Good Hope focus on?' was addressed in a question about the surveyee's chosen social networking sites. The results identified four central technologies which exhibit high rates of adoption. The most popular of these sites was Facebook, with 100% of surveyees reporting use of the site. Results are likely skewed due to the Facebook-based distribution of the survey, however this data correlates with other sources, such as XXXXXXX which shows that Facebook has the highest levels of adoption of the popular social networking technologies in many demographics. Video site Youtube was frequented by 49.5% of surveyees. 23% of respondents reported having a Twitter account, and 12% indicated membership on Flickr. Respondents identified 13 other social networking technologies, however only two of these technologies had multiple reported users, indicating a low level of adoption among the target demographic XXXX CONFIRM NUMBERXXXX. These four technologies were also frequently identified in the literature as being useful and effective in non-profit and philanthropic social-networking campaigns. The group's research into existing examples of non-profit social networking dominantly consisted of instances of effective use of Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr, showing that these technologies can and do prove successful when used in an NPO's online campaigning. The group also structured the survey to gather data to answer the research question 'What are the social media habits of 20-35 year-olds?'. One of the question asked how often users accessed social networking sites. The result indicated that the large majority of users accessed these sites multiple times a day. Twitter, the newest technology of the four (and ostensibly least traditional in its communicative style) was accessed one or more times a day by 29% of its users. Flickr showed low rates of daily use, reflecting the archival nature of its use as, opposed to the discursively oriented participation on other sites. 86% of Flickr users did not access the site on a daily basis. Youtube was shown to be a popular choice for users with 64% reporting daily use of the site, possibly as a result of its use in inter-platform video dissemination on other networking sites. The most dramatic result came from the large population of Facebook users. Of this group, only 4% reported less than daily use of the site. 68.5% of Facebook users accessed information on the site between 1 and 10 times a day. Notably, 26.5% of respondents were more active than this- 10% accessed the site between 11 and 15 times a day, and 17.5% said that they checked Facebook more than 15 times a day. Generally, it was shown that a large number of users access information on their social networking sites on a daily basis, emphasizing the potential audience and related demand for timely and frequently updated content. The survey also investigated the user's motivations in becoming a follower of an NPO's social networking outlets by providing them with a serious of options and asking them to select those which influence them. The results found that interest in the organization was a significant motivator, with 51% of respondents saying that this interest was important or very important in their decision. Significantly, a desire for more information about the organization and issue was shown to be extremely influential in the decision to follow an NPO's social networking presence. 37% said their desire to learn more was an important factor, while 13% said it was very important. These responses highlight the necessity of providing sufficient information about the organization and its efforts. The presence of dialogue-based areas of participation were also found to be important to the target demographic. 37% of respondents reported that the availability of discussion areas played an important or very important part in their decision. Linking between the social networking sites and the organizational website was also cited by 77% of respondents as an important or very important factor in the decision. This result demonstrates the importance of providing easy access to all the platforms of a social networking campaign through prominent hyper-linking.

One of the survey's open-ended question asked what makes a user regularly visit or stop visiting the social networking sites of NPOs. The data fropm this question providing some interesting responses regarding users' motivations concerning their engagement with NPO social media. 12% of respondents provided answers concerning their desire to learn more about a philanthropic issue or organization. 21% of respondents gave answers that cited a personbal interest in the social networking site. In the responses to this question, a noteworthy piece of information emerged regarding the stakeholder's use of the social networking site. Two reoccuring types of response relected the user's expectations of an NPO social networkinmg site. The first cited a loss of interest as a reason for not following the site for 13% of the question's respondents. The second and most relevant referred to frequent updating of information on the social networking site as a reason for their engagement. This type of response was recorded by 58% of the question's respondents. In light of the importance of frequent updating to the survey population, it can be inferred that the loss of interest cited by 13% of the respondents can be related to a lack of relevant and contemporary information. Given that the frequency of update response appears significantly more often than any other response, it is clear that this issue is an important one in the process of engaging users with an NPO, and any organization hoping to attract and retain a community of online stakeholders must ensure the constant provision of up-to-date and relevant information.

The survey also asked social networking users what makes them care about an organization, and disclose how important these characteristics were to them. The survey included a list of possible options from which the respondent can select, with the option of adding other reasons. The nature of the organization's mission was most influential, with 38% considering it very important. This shows the importance of effectively communicating the mission statement and areas of operation of the NPO on their social networking sites. The NPO's community involvement was also reported as a reason for caring, with 29% identifying it as important, and 17% as very important. This indicates that the NPO would benefit from using their social networking presence to show the relationship between the organization and the community it serves. The importance of social networking for organizations which rely on stakeholder participation is demonstrated by the 40.5% response rate among users for whom the provision of opportunities for participation is important or very important. The proven effective use of funds and resources was important for 22% of respondents and very important for 25%, demonstrating the potential for social networking as a means of providing evidence of responsible and successful organizational operation. The organization's positive response to stakeholder input was identified as important or very important by 38% of respondents, proving the utility of social networking's ability to provide users and the organization with a means of collaborating on organizational practices and policies. Finally, in light of the nature of this project it is noteworthy that the online presence of an organization was identified as an important factor in getting a user to care about an NPO by 28% of respondents, and as very important by 13%. Given the high relevance of this issue to users, it should be clearly apparent that the construction of an effective social networking campaign is an essential element in encouraging stakeholder engagement.

CASE STUDIES

In order to answer the question 'What are other non-profit organizations doing?', the group undertook a series of case studies in order to identify the best social networking practices as shown in successful examples of use of the four primary technologies by a variety of non-profit organizations. Following are the summaries of these successful campaigns and analysis of their practices.


 * Facebook**

The Facebook profile of the Make-A-Wish Foundation provides an example of effective dissemination of information. The foundation communicates details of its mission and operations to its online stakeholders by employing several of Facebook's built-in applications. The status update field and the page's 'wall' are used to publish a number of stories telling the stakeholder about the organization's successes, as is the case with Mar. 25th's post detailing the recent trip 35 children took to Phoenix to meet their favourite WWE wrestling stars. Like many of the Foundation's Facebook posts, this one incorporates a link to a third party site providing further information or multimedia content, in this case a clip discussing the story on Fox News. This 'success story' style of post is extremely common on the Foundation's Facebook page, and appear to be one of the foundation's more effective forms of dissemination, judging from the amount of feedback in the form of 'likes' and discussion in the 'comments' field. They provide a stimulating and emotionally effecting source of information which serves to solidify the relationship between user and organization based on accounts of their practices and beneficiaries. The news feed n the profile page provides the user with many descriptions and accounts of its various campaigns and policies. It employs textual and visual content, generated by the Foundation and its stakeholders as well as community partners and media outlets, as a means of conveying information about the policies and actions of the organization and their stakeholders. February 4th's post describes a partnership between the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Pediped Footwear company which contributes half of its shoes' purchase price to fund the Foundation's efforts. The user is further encouraged to take part in the Foundation's information dissemination practices by signing up for its various chapters and projects. For instance, March 10th's post invites users to become members of its 'Wishmaker' club, which connects the user with their local chapter in order to more effectively provide them with pertinent information regarding their regional operations, and to inform them of ways to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation through local involvement or financial support. The American Red Cross' Facebook page has made effective use of the platform's potential as an information source and a point of interaction with online stakeholders. It demonstrates the level of disclosure required from an NPO's web presence. It incorporates elements of the ARC's branding and philosophy in order to clearly convey their brand and mission to Facebook users. The familiar logos of the Red Cross are used, and the dominant imagery and headings reference disaster relief and health concerns, demonstrating the field of the ARC's operation and depicting the nature of the organization's efforts. Other institutional information such as the organization's history and volunteering and donating instructions are made easily accessible, much of it by prominent linking to the ARC's website and other chapters of the Red Cross. The ARC uses its Facebook profile to provide an extensive array of content through linking to third party websites. It disseminates essential information about the activities of the organization and has become a widely adopted source of news and information for information about international and domestic health and disaster relief issues. By disclosing useful and pertinent information, the American Red Cross establishes a sense of responsibility with its users, informs them about itself and the nature of its charitable work and invites them to seek further information or participation with the organization. They are provided with areas of discussion and interaction which serve to strengthen the relationship between users and the ARC. Much of the visual media on the page is user-generated, and there is a high degree of engagement in the provided text-based discussion areas. The effective communication of important information, and the significant provisions for user involvement can be partially credited with the success of the American Red Cross Facebook page, which listed 183 035 fans as of March 25th, 2010.
 * Make-A-Wish Foundation- http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1233603475809#!/makeawish?ref=ts**
 * American Red Cross- http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1233603475809#!/redcross?ref=ts**

__ Free the Children __ - __ [|www.youtube.com/freethechildrenintl] __ Free the Children is an organization that through leadership training at home, and community development projects abroad, empowers youth everywhere to make a difference. It is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education. Free the Children is an organization that has benefited from the new YouTube Nonprofit channel. The organization became a YouTube member in February of 2009 and since then have had over 25,000 channel views and have over 1,000 subscribers. Since joining they have increased their use of video to do both **fundraising ** and **promote awareness **. Their YouTube channel hosts over 60 videos including **project updates, campaigns, how-to videos, event videos and speeches **. Collectively their videos have hundreds of thousands of views. One of their most successful videos was Jason Mraz’s message for their Vow of Silence program in which youth don’t speak, text, Tweet, or Facebook for 24 hours to raise money for those silenced by poverty. Through use of **YouTube Insight **, an analytics tool available to all YouTube users, Free the Children was able to determine where exactly their video views were coming from, and could then target these sources in their future campaigns. According to Alex Apostol, Digital Director at Free the Children, they are excited about using the free tools offered by the YouTube Nonprofit Program. The **call-to-action overlay ** is a tangible way to increase the impact of their videos on **donations and campaign sign-ups **. They believe that video is an incredible way to inspire young people. Video can take massive, complex social issues and in a matter of seconds **create an emotional connection, tell a powerful story and even inspire action ** (Apostol). The organization has been very successful in using YouTube’s Nonprofit program. They are currently the #1 Most Subscribed Canadian nonprofit organization on the site and have over 200,000 views of their videos combined. Free the Children uses a more broadcast paradigm in their use of YouTube as a social media. Although they encourage viewers to post comments and video responses, they are more looking to showcase their events and tell their powerful stories to promote awareness of their cause (through video). This works for them because they also have a website, Twitter account and Facebook page in which they are able to create dialogue between themselves and the public.
 * YOUTUBE**

__ United Way Toronto __ - __ [] __ <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">United Way Toronto is a charity working to advance the common good and create opportunities for a better life for everyone in the city. Working in partnership with others, they mobilize people and resources to address the root causes of social problems and to change community conditions for the better. They also support agencies that provide services to strengthen individuals, families and communities. United Way Toronto has been a member of YouTube since March 2008 and has used the video website in a number of ways. One way is to **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">thank donors for showing their support **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;"> for United Way projects, through **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">showcasing their grassroots events. **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;"> First they give clips of people participating in one of their many campaigns; they talk to the volunteers and find out why they chose to participate and what they got out of the experience. Then they have a thank-you message at the end, thanking those in the video as well as all participants in their showcased campaign. They have done this through **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">embedding a thank-you video on their site **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;"> and have made it an important part of the donation sequence. These videos have received thousands of views. This is needed if the organization wants to earn the public's trust and be able to start dialogue and community interactions with them. These relationships that they are building through their campaign videos are crucial to building their volunteer, financial and advocacy capital (Greenberg & MacAulay, 2009). Michael Fuhrmann, Director of New Media at United Way Toronto has said that **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">video allows people to learn about their cause **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;"> and allows them to tell people how their support makes a difference in their community. They want it to **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">engage people and have them tell their story to them through the YouTube Direct function that allows people to submit videos to their page **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Fuhrmann believes that organizations need to **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">stop worrying about the quality and professionalism of their video **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;"> collections, and **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">focus more on the content **<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Just telling your organizations story can make a difference. Videos with high production value and high cost take months to create. But this new breed of online videos are short, never more than five minutes in length, mostly filmed on inexpensive cameras and are making just as big of an impact as those documentaries made in Hollywood ( __ [] __ <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">).

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">__ The Veterans of Foreign Wars “Our Heroes Next Door” __ __ [] __ <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;"> The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States set out to create a video campaign aimed at identifying potential donors in their 20’s and 30’s. The organization was concerned that it was relying too heavily on older donors and wanted to branch out. To reach their target group, the VFW has produced two videos that have been posted on YouTube. One is a slide show-style spot called “Our Heroes Next Door.” It features a series of heroic images of soldiers set to somber, military-style music. The images were combined with written messages, such as “They are our brothers and sisters,” and “Honor them by flying your flag.” The video was a success and at one point was number 17 on the most-watched video list of the entire website. The video attracted an audience, in part, because the VFW was able to get bloggers sympathetic to its cause to link it to their own blogs, making it somewhat viral. The organization did not ask for donations as part of the video, but it was able to collect nearly 3,000 e-mail addresses, many of which were from the 20-30 year-old range. Their database grew an extra couple thousand people that the VFW might not have reached otherwise. These e-mail addresses were eventually used for future fund-raising campaigns. Any single e-mail address from the 20-30 year-old demographic is incredibly helpful to have. In order to create a compelling, powerful online video, consider interviewing people who are affected by the work your organization does and record actions you are taking to solve problems in your community. These tactics prove to be much more successful than creating a piece you think is hip or one that features a celebrity. The other thing to keep in mind is to keep videos short. If you have previously created a longer video, you may want to consider chopping it up. Your organization can also use online videos to respond to current events, to explain your position on a current issue, or to bring attention to an issue that should be in the news but isn’t. ( __ [] __ <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-weight: normal;">).


 * FLICKR**

__ The Children At Risk Foundation __ The Children At Risk Foundation (CARF) is an organization in Brazil formed in 1993 to benefit the street children of Brazil by defending their rights and offering them a sustainable solution so that they could live and grow within a family-oriented context and healthy social environment ( __ [] __ ). CARF launched an annual fundraising campaign entirely on Flickr. The campaign asks supporters to ** donate $10 per person ** to support its street kids programs and to also contribute their own photos that relate to their cause. The photos and the conversations they generate show how a small donation of $10 can make a dramatic difference ( __ [] __ ). The CARF campaign is organized into “Case Studies” of different problems that they are faced with as they work with street children and other children at risk. These problems are either looking for a solution or the funding to implement one. To showcase these case studies, CARF is using ** photos to illustrate the problems ** that they are facing. One such case study involves the need for funding to build bathrooms for an underprivileged community in Brazil. They ** show the community as a discussion thread on their CARF Flickr Group page **. The thread is basically a ** blog with pictures **. The text explains what the community needs – a new bathroom; shows what they have now – rundown shacks, no clean drinking water; and what Flickr members can do to help out this community – donate money. They ** show pictures of the villagers **, mostly children, and ** give anecdotes ** on how they have been helped in the past. They then ** state the amount of money they are aiming for with this campaign **. Over time, there are more entries from CARF stating that they have reached a certain amount in their campaign, but are still looking for more, and ** ask the Flickr users to invite their friends to the Group **. Eventually they ** put up pictures of a finished bathroom that they have constructed through their donations **. This blog not only helped CARF to receive donations for this small village, but it also ** gave the donators an inside look on exactly where their money was going **. The blogging of photos and text also helped to ** create discussion amongst the Flickr users **. Discussion threads were created on everything from ** volunteer stories to brainstorming solutions to problems CARF was encountering **. This social media platform then becomes a space for ** conversation and brainstorming **, ** creating a community of ‘Changemakers ** .’ CARF realized that today with so many different social media platforms and different interest groups, the best thing to do was to ** narrow their focus to one area, being Flickr users **. The organization ** focused on these photography lovers and used their own photographs and stories to reach this group of people **. This is an excellent example of how NPO’s are directly reaching out to an engaging in existing and prospective members and supporters. They created a new opportunity for collaboration, conversation and co-creation of knowledge through photography (Greenberg & MacAulay, 2009). Rather than simply asking for money for their organization as a whole, they were able to show exactly why they needed donations and where the donations were going. This helped to create trust between CARF and the Flickr community. The relationships created between CARF and the Flickr communities are crucial to building their financial capital (Greenberg & MacAulay). Their frequent updates on the village progress and money raised also helped to keep users engaged in the campaign, wanting to constantly check back to the group to see the progress that was being made on account of their help. In the end the campaign raised $5,388.00 (their initial goal was $7,200.00), and were able to build the village new washroom facilities ( __ [] __ ).

__ Lance Armstrong Foundation __ – __ [] __ -The organization was founded in 1997, and is more popularly known as ‘Livestrong.’ The foundation provides a much needed network of support for people diagnosed with cancer and their families. LAF seeks to empower people who have been affected by cancer by having the mindset of being survivors rather than victims. The organization helps people find the information, support and courage they need to face the fight against cancer head on. -LAF has fully embraced social media, including Twitter, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. They are all used in innovative ways to help run the organization’s web community more efficiently. ** Flickr is used to help pull in photos from supporters at various events **. They have even held some contests, one being ** a contest ** asking people to show off the coolest place they have taken their iconic yellow Livestrong bracelet. They used only Flickr to collect entries and received 400 in just three days ( __ [] __ ). The Livestrong Flickr group mostly encompasses the events that are put on by the organization. For example one of their ** biggest photo sets includes only photos taken on Livestrong Day 2009 **. The photos are from people all over the world who participated in the day, and then posted their pictures on the Flickr website, tagging the photos as ‘livestrongarmy’ for the group administer to organize into a set. The Livestrong Day 2009 set has over 100 photographs and has received over 800 views. The photos contributed to the Livestrong group by the Flickr users helps to ** create a community around the cause of the organization **. This organization was able to ** bring people together ** with the common interest of helping to fight cancer, ** provide support ** to those battling the disease on one way or another, and ** enabled the public to advocate ** on behalf of their own needs and interests through posting their own pictures of how they are participating in the fight. They want to make people who are dealing with cancer in any way to be able to see that they are not alone and that ** they are all together in this fight **. They are creating a two-way form of communication not through text, but through photographs alone (Greenberg & MacAulay). The implementation of a discussion board might help to generate written communication among the users, but it was found that they use their other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs to do so. As is the case with its presence on Facebook, the American Red Cross has managed to take advantage of Twitter's communicative potential to establish an extensive group of informed and committed followers who are receptive to their message and who provide a valuable source of information, monetary support, and volunteer participation. As of Mar. 16, their messages were being received by 97, 604 followers, and are ** updated frequently, often multiple times a day **. These ** messages address ongoing relief campaigns, provide links to news articles, and giving direction on how to collaborate with the organization **. This sustained level of useful communication allows the ARC to retain and grow its follower base, who will contribute to the dissemination of their message and engagement in their volunteer-based activities. The American Red Cross' Twitter page demonstrates the amount and variety of posted content required to attract and retain an interested group of followers. They provide a consistently updated source of information related to the organization and its field that will engage the user and encourage their continued attention. The ARC twitter feed supplies a constantly-growing source of information which will retain user interest and stimulate their interest and involvement with the organization and its field of work. Content of the messages address issues of high contemporary relevance such as the numerous recent natural disasters occurring around the world, which are likely to be of interest to their followers and to outside twitterers. Information on these issues can be provided through links to third party sources, as was the case with the ARC's tweet from Feb. 27th 2010, directing followers to an NBC news report of Tsunami waves in Hawaii following the Chile quake. The ARC also provides this sought after information by connecting users to its own institutional sources, as was the case in its March 1st tweet, directing users to video and twitter accounts of Haitian aftershocks provided by ARC volunteer Matt Morgan. By constantly making different types of valuable, up to date content available to those who are actively interested in an issue and are seeking related information, the American Red Cross develops a relationship with its followers, solidifying its continuing importance as a news source, demonstrating the environment in which it operates and the necessity of its involvement, and showing itself as an effective philanthropic agency which is a worthwhile beneficiary of the user's support. The ARC's Twitter feed constitutes an effective form of participatory communication, as it makes use of the technology's various interactive functions to facilitate discussion between the agency and it's community. Posts use hashtags and @replies to target their communication to individuals or mass groups of Twitter users, and invite them to engage in discussion of their posted content. This has proven quite effective, as the organization's feed often re-disseminate messages from its stakeholders and ally organizations, and in turn have its own content discussed and re-tweeted by its online community. World Wildlife Fund- http://twitter.com/WWF The World Wildlife Fund demonstrates extremely effective use of the Twitter platform in attracting and engaging an online community of stakeholders. The site displays prominent use of its iconography, and refers users to sites and Twitter feeds about specific issues and campaigns. A noteworthy element of the WWF's Twitter use is that it provides and links to a discrete Twitter profile for many of their chapters and mission elements, such as the WWF_Climate feed which discusses climate change and environmental issues. The feeds provide details of the various efforts of the organization through links to earned media coverage and organizational press releases such as that linked to in March 16th's Tweet concerning illegal logging in Madagascar. Messages are also used to engage users in discussion and answer questions about the organization, as was the case in March 11th's Tweet responding to an individual's question about the WWF acronym. The feed also contains several interactive elements, strengthening the user's participation in WWF events and issues, as shown in the March 24 invitation to sign up for the 2010 Earth hour. Notably, this sign up page encourages participants to use their own social networks to create content discussing the event. Cross-Platform Campaign
 * TWITTER**
 * American Red Cross- http://twitter.com/RedCross**

A recent example of effective coordinated use of various social networking technologies can be found in the 'InvisiblePeople.tv' Campaign, which strives to highlight the situation of the homeless in North America by using the multimedia capabilities of social networking sites to connect users with the homeless, and engage them in a dialogue about its place in society. This campaign received a $50 000 grant in the SXSW Pepsi Refresh Challenge, which rewards innovation in social causes. The campaign demonstrates effective communication in the three areas outlined by Waters et al, and employs several different social networking applications to inform and engage online stakeholders. Effective disclosure is provided by linking to the project's various communications outlets, and its mission and administration are explained throughout by its founder, Mark Horvath. The Facebook and Twitter elements of the campaign, as well as the Invisiblepeople.tv website, provide frequently updated sources of information regarding the project's efforts and coverage and discussion of homelessness issues elsewhere in the media. The campaign provides a news source around which it has created an online community of engaged individuals who will support and interact with the project administration and other users. The sites provide interactive content and extensive and easily accessible amounts of visual media. They enable stakeholders to become involved with the sites by contributing to their media collections, or by participating in the many areas of discussion, such as the commentary on linked content on the Facebook page, or discussion of the video interviews with homeless individuals on the InvisiblePeople.tv Youtube channel. As a result of its effectiveness in participating in the three areas of communication outlined by Waters et al (2009) through its advantageous use of the social networking technologies, the InvisiblePeople.tv project has established a dedicated and engaged group of stakeholders, and continues to attract attention and support to its cause.