The So-What about Social Networking

You’ve probably heard of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and perhaps LinkedIn, but have you thought about how social networking (and its many manifestations) can add value to your organization’s mission, its impact in community, and/or building relationships with donors and volunteers?

So, what is “social networking?”
In the simplest of terms, social networking is an online community of people who share a common interest, cause, or purpose. Some social network sites exist primarily to allow users to socialize. But others are more focused on politics, or a hobby, or a region, and so forth.

While there are rules and guidlines of behavior on such sites, beyond that members of a social network create their own web pages, profiles, and linkages with others. Social Network sites like FaceBook also allow its users to create “groups” that others can join. A group could be about anything. For example you could create a group focused on Architects or Poets or on your city or neighborhood or church. The options are virtually limitless.

Younger people are more likely to be active on social network sites than their parents, but as this form of interaction among people becomes more accepted, I believe generational differences will dissipate.

When you join a social network site, you create a profile. You can say as little or as much about yourself as you choose. Mention where you work or don’t. Share your contact information, your favorite books, your community memberships, and your favorite websites.  When you make a “friend”, they become listed (with a photo if they have one) on your network page.

People can communicate with one another by posting comments to their respective pages. On FaceBook, that is called a whiteboard. That way others can see who your friends are too.

Here’s the So-What
The so-what factor about social networking depends on what you want to use it for, to be honest.  Your organization may benefit by having its own social network of employees (good for larger firms with multiple sites) or one focused on your volunteers or your donors. You don’t have to use FaceBook or MySpace for that. You can create your own social networks using existing online platforms (for free) like Ning, for example.

So, how can a social network benefit your organization?

If you are using a social network for relationship building with volunteers or donors, here are a few of the benefits you can realize.

1. Learn about your constituents’ interests, hobbies, friends, aspirations, involvements and then use this information to communicate to them in a more tailored approach.

2. Keep everyone up to date on the lastest news or program without having to email everyone separately.

3. Create forums and groups for people to participate in. For example, create “interest groups” for donors. Topics could include: Kids, Seniors, Homelessness, Health, whatever makes sense for your organization.

4. Find out what people think and feel about your organization.

5. Share photos and videos of interest to your members.

6. Facilitate your social network members getting to know one another. Connected donors and volunteers are more likely to create synergies around your cause than they will if they don’t know each other.

7. Ask your members to help you solve a problem. You might be surprised on what they come up with.

8. Provide online orientation for your volunteers.

9. Create online surveys and ask for people’s participation.

10. Connect members to your website, blog and other web-based resources that may be of interest to them.

Social Networking is revolutionizing the way people interact. While I was writing this article I was logged into FaceBook and my son was there too. He and I chatted for a while, something we would not have done today most likely. And while we chatted, an old colleague spotted me and shared the news of her soon to arrive grandchild.

The opportunities for connecting with people and connecting people to one another are virtually endless through the use of myriad web-based platforms and tools. Many, if not most, of these tools are free to use. You just need to know why you want to use them and then how to deploy. The knowing why is actually the harder part than deployment.

For more info about social networking and how we can help your organization better embrace the Internet and engage your constituents, contact Mark HERE or leave a comment.

10 reasons to get web savy

Here are some web and internet trends. Understanding them can help you predict what direction your web work should take.

1. Half of adults in the USA today use one of these three social media: text messaging, blogs, or social networks (e.g. Facebook, MySpace). In the 18-34 year-old demographic, the numbers of social media users are even higher: 85% of rely on one of the three platforms to stay in touch with others. Adults who never sent a text message fell to 41% from 49% last year. |source|

2. 1 out of 10 U.S. adults now publish blogs (up from 5% last year) |source|

3. 1 out of 5 18-34-year olds publish blogs (up from 10% last year) |source|

4. 22% of U.S. adults use IM (up from 9% last year) |source|

5. 21% of 18-34-year olds use IM (up from 14% last year) |source|

6. On an average visit to your site or blog, users read half the information only on those pages with 111 words or less.  On average, users will have time to read 28% of the words if they devote all of their time to reading. More realistically, users will read about 20% of the text on the average page. |source|

7. Gen Y’ers are changing the Internet. They are the first true digital natives. They grew up with the Internet. They care less about traditional television – in fact a good number watch “tv” on the Internet. They tend to me more socially motivated than Boomers and GenXers and less wound up in work. In fact, they think employers need to be more sensitive about, and accommodating to one’s personal life. They care about the world, politics, and like to have control when it comes to their charitable activities. They are on FaceBook and MySpace, use Twitter, and they think they are a force to be reckoned with. You won’t reach them in conventional ways. Instead you will have to not only communicate with them, but engage them as well, on the web, through social networking, through the use of mobile technology, and by using Web 2.0 and 3.0. By the way if you don’t know what Twitter is, check it out. I don’t really get it (I am old as dirt), but Gen Yers do. So I will have to try harder. |source|

8. Social News is the way of the future. “Social news sites such as Digg, Propeller, Reddit, StumbleUpon, where the community decides what content is worthy and what content isn’t, are powerful enough to drive tens of thousands of visitors to some lucky content producers, and thus have become an incredibly valuable marketing platform. One good day on any of these sites can get you more than 60,000 visitors in less than 24 hours” Look out newspapers. And look out television news. <source>

9. Heard of Lifestreaming? People that use the Internet have an array of Internet experiences, transactions, and they create all sorts of information along their way. They write blogs, listen to music, watch videos, play games, post to bulletin boards, write emails, chat with friends, write little reviews of the books they like on Amazon or elsewhere, and so on and so on. So, what is this Lifestreaming thing that is taking blogging to new levels?  Lifestreaming is taking all that information from different sources, and sticking it in one place so that people who find it interesting can see what I’m up to. It’s less stalking, and more “this person has similar tastes to me so I’m interested in what they’re interested in.” |read 35 ways to stream your life|

10. YouTube. Yeh you have heard about it, but think about it. In August 2006 YouTube hosted just over 6 million videos and had half a million user accounts. In April 2008, there were 83 million videos on YouTube and 3.75 million user channels (channels, not users!) It is estimated that in 2007, YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000, and that around ten hours of video are uploaded every minute. YouTube is free. You can upload videos and easily imbed them in your website or blog. People are reading less and watching more. Does your marketing strategy include video and YouTube?