photo illustration by Luc Legay

‘Social media’ and ‘social networking’ are phrases one hears with regularity these days. But, what are they exactly? At its core, social networking connects people and social media is how the people are connected, usually by way of a website, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

In this online age when people have a multitude of profiles on the internetInternet, social networking stands out as being the tie that binds, both online and in real-life, professionally and personally. This article will survey social networking, and then show you how you can get the most benefit out of it for your nonprofit organization. Whether your goal is to raise money, increase awareness for your cause, find volunteers or find business contacts, you will have a better understanding of what all the talk is about and how to join the conversation.

What is are Social Networking and Media?

• Social networking is a conversation. Listen. You are interacting with your audience and they are interacting with you. The exchange is a two-way street and like a good conversationalist, you must learn how to listen to what your audience is saying.
• Social networking depends on your involvement. Tom Watson, author of the book “CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World” says “The most common question we get is ‘can't I just hire an intern for this?’ Our answer is always an emphatic ‘No!’ If you're not willing to be an authentic member of a social network or an online community, take a pass. People know when the voice in that social network is real and they reward participation and authenticity with their loyalty.”
• Social networking keeps people informed and inspired. Members of your social network follow you because they want to know more about you and your organization. Social media gives your audience constant access to your message. Return the favor by providing them with open and honest information.
• Social networking is targeted. Since the people in your network have chosen to follow your organization, you do not have to worry about wasting money on snail mailings or cold calling individuals. Social networking gives you a way to get your message to the most responsive audience in the most efficient, cost-effective way.
• Social networking takes time. You will need time to build fans, Twitter followers and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed readers. Growth will be slow at first but will then increase exponentially as more people hear what you have to say.
• Social networking is made of many different parts. There is no silver bullet of an online application, website or company that does it all. There are literally thousands of sites that do one thing that could be considered social networking and, most likely, they do it well.
• Social networking works best when all parts work together. Like the old saying, “Unite or Die,” social networking’s true power happens when all the parts are integrated with each other. To truly take advantage of all the internet Internet has to offer for the benefit of your organization, you will have to learn how to harness the specialty of each tool. For example, linking Twitter to your Facebook status and the link to your latest blog post on Twitter, you can see how seamlessly this all works.

Why Should I Use It?

Take a look at some of these stats and you will understand why getting involved with social networking is valuable.

• Social networks and blogs are the 4th most popular online activities online, including beating personal email. 67% of global users visit member communities and 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites. “ (source: econsultancy.com)
• The U.S. accounts for 40% of all of the world’s Twitter web traffic. The highest Twitter Twitter-using population outside the U.S. is Japan with 39%. (source: blog.twitter.com)
• A 2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study, which was released by the Center for Media Research in conjunction with InsightExpress, found that 57.7% of respondents "ideally" plan and 56.3% "realistically" plan to include social media in their media plans next year. In a separate study only 51% of B2B marketers claimed to monitor the return on their social media investment. (source: mediapost.com and circle-research.com)
• More than 6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide). (source: facebook.com)
• Social media platform Wetpaint and digital consulting firm Altimeter Group found that companies with the highest levels of social media activity on average increased revenues by 18% in the last 12 months, while the least active saw sales drop 6% over that period. (source: mediapost.com)
• In 2005, 8% of adults online had a profile on a social network site. Today, 35% do. (source: primalmedia.com)

Where to Start?

Before you go to your favorite search engine and type in “social networking,” it is best to take a moment to ask yourself what your goals are and how much time you want to commit to them. For Nell Eckersley of the Literary Assistance Center in New York City, who is heavily involved with community outreach on a daily basis, taking time to social network is a daily activity. “When I am regularly sending ‘tweets’ [Twitter comments] about adult literacy,” Nell says, “I might spend at most a total of 45 minutes in a day. Facebook is updated through my tweets and takes no additional time. Periodically I create events on Facebook or update old events, adding photos and descriptions of the event. At those times, I might spend 2 to 3 hours. I periodically search for people through Twitter on Facebook and that can lead me down a rabbit hole—one connection leads to another, but even then I only spend 30 minutes before returning to my other non-social networking work.”

For social networking author and speaker Tom Watson, using social media is about having a conversation with your audience. “I always tell organizations to “start with listening,’” says Tom. “Sounds simple and it is, really. It means using the social networks, Facebook, Twitter or any others to hear what people are saying-about you, your service area, the sector in general- then gradually taking part in that conversation. It is not a broadcast medium and broadcast messages tend to get ignored by participants on that network.”

One thing many people say about social networking is that it is easy to lose track of time. Especially in an office environment, it is important that you set boundaries for yourself. Nell’s suggestion is to have two separate profiles; one professional and one personal. If you are using your personal profile to network professionally you do not want to report that your youngest child lost a tooth. Thankfully, Facebook has a way to delete your updates. Though, it would still be in your best interest to create two accounts.

If it is your organization that has a social network presence, it is best to find someone who knows a lot about the company organization to post updates and tweets. “There is a tendency to think that the ideal person to tweet for an organization is someone young, perhaps an intern interested in the topic or in school for something related,” says Nell. “I’m sure that person could do a fair amount of twitter, but they are not already in the loop and for them to find resources to post or identify issues to research and condense into 140 character tweets might not be easy.”

A good place to start is to sign up for Facebook. In 2004 Facebook was started by 4 four Harvard students and was available to only a few select colleges. In 2006 the site opened its registration and, since then, Facebook has grown to include 250 million active users, with 120 million people checking their Facebook profile at least once a day. The uniqueness of Facebook lies in its emphasis on updates and networks. The site allows you to post news stories, videos and blog posts, and share them with the people in your network. You can also create a group for which people can become fans or if you are a nonprofit, you can sign up for Facebook Causes; (more on this, later). The focus of Facebook is to help you find contacts and those who share your interests. You can control the amount of privacy – whether you want everyone to see your profile or just a select few. Facebook also lets you create “groups” for which people can become fans. The difference between a group and a personal profile is that groups can have multiple administrators (to post updates) and provide a place where fans can discuss your group. Fans of your group also get your updates posted on their newsfeed.

After you have signed up for Facebook you can head over to Twitter.com to take your networking one step further. Twitter offers “micro-blogging,” or telling people information within 140 characters. When applied to the context of social media, Twitter can be helpful in tying networks together via quick updates and new pieces. For example, Facebook lets you link your Twitter account to its status update feature – letting you update your status from either Twitter or a mobile device. Twitter seems to be developing a culture all its own and might not be the right thing for some people. However, it is worth checking out and trying; at least for a short while. If you do not find any benefit to it, then there are many more options from which to choose.

How Can Social Media and Networking Help Nonprofits?

According to Convio, an online tech and fundraising consulting company, in 2007 online giving in the U.S. totaled 10 billion dollars – a 52% increase from 2006. Additionally, as Convio pointed out in its study, 51% of wealthy donors prefer to give online. Social media can help you grow your nonprofit, connecting your organization with donors. Donation sites are currently one of the fastest areas of online development. These sites are possibly the next evolution in social networking and an exciting opportunity for any 501(c)3 nonprofit, because they combine people’s interest in doing good while finding (and funding) their community, both online and in person. For example, Epic Change, a nonprofit that builds classrooms in Tanzania, raised $11,131 in 48 hours using a ChipIn widget on their its homepage.

A good starting place for nonprofits would be Facebook Causes. Since you may already have a Facebook account, signing up for Causes is the next logical step in promoting your organization via social networking. Once you have your profile set up, people can join your network to get the latest updates as well as donate money. All donations made through Facebook Causes are processed by Network for Good, an online donation site for nonprofits, and are charged a 4.75% processing fee.

If you do not want to be charged the donation fee for online donations, another strategy would be to sign your organization up for Razoo. Razoo is set apart from Network for Good in that it does not charge processing fees. Being fairly new to the online donation scene, their business model is still unclear. However, no fees can mean the difference of several thousand dollars with larger donations. A strategy could be to “tweet” your Razoo profile link along with a quick message to keep your organization in your audience’s awareness. Razoo also has an option for fans of your organization to create fundraisers for your cause. Users can also sign in with their Facebook profile login information via Facebook Connect to make it easier for you to see who is viewing and donating. Additionally, if your organization is on Guidestar then you already have a profile on Razoo. If you are not on Guidestar, then I highly suggest you sign up. Guidestar is an online database of virtually all nonprofit organizations in America. Users can search by keyword, name, EIN, city, state and zip to find the nearest, most relevant nonprofit. Guidestar also lets users view full information about your organization and write reviews.

In the online donation/social media realm there is also Change.org. This site combines user profiles with causes, giving them a chance to tell friends about them while encouraging them to donate money and sign petitions. Organizations can write their own blog, post videos, post jobs and post actions that need attention. Donations given through Change.org are subject to a 4.75% fee processed through Network for Good.

Another social media nonprofit donation portal is firstgiving.com. With an emphasis on letting users pass the word around about your organization, firstgiving.com allows fans of your cause to create fundraising pages for you, giving them the ability to notify friends and family about the page they made. Visitors to the page can donate straight from the site and the nonprofit gets a check for the amount (after a 7.5% processing fee).

Still another company is Amazee . Amazee is an online social collaboration site where people post, network, promote and raise funds for projects of their choosing or creation. Amazee stands out from other online donation sites in that it focuses on the project, rather than on one person promoting it. Think of it as a nexus of Facebook, Wikipedia, and Network for Good. Amazee also lets you link your projects to your Facebook profile so you can get more people interested in your cause.

What is next for Social Media/Networking?

With many sites coming into the social media field so quickly it is hard to predict what the next face of social media will be. “I think there will be more and more specialized social networking sites that link people with specific interests,” said Nell Eckersley. “Individuals and organizations will figure out how social networking can benefit them.., this is very different than any other form of marketing and I think that the future is going to see more of this kind of personalized marketing.”

Tom Watson sees social networking as creating a more democratic form of media – to the detriment of professional media outlets. “I see continued evolution toward a "semi-pro" media, where people produce blogs and video and podcasts and other forms of content for free or very cheaply... The crowd is not always right and it's not always inquisitive. For nonprofits, therefore, it's vital to invest in building and attracting an audience for their cause-related content now and the best return on investment is in social media. That means taking care of the virtual volunteers who join your networks and help make your case.”

Whatever the future holds, we will be seeing a lot more social networking. One prospect is Google’s Wave project that stands to deal a blow to Facebook, or at least drastically change the way we connect with each other. Google Wave allows instantaneous communication over many platforms in nearly every form. Users will be able to collaborate in real time and send email-like messages instantly as well as contact each other through blog posts and documents. Open Social API, through which developers can link various social networking accounts together, achieving further integration between social media sites, is also from Google. Both Wave and the Open Social API are open source, so we can expect further development and innovation in the near future.