Project #6:Project #6: NGO Uses of Social Media and NGO Uses of Social Media and

ExamplesExamples

Done by:Marion LediRegina ThiaYuma OgawaKatherine KeeBryant ShenShaun KangJason Liew

How can social media be applied in an NGO setting? Are there

successful case studies, especially in Asia?

Uses of Social MediaQuestion 1: How is the NGO challenge different than corporate uses of social

media?

Best PracticesUsing Social Media as a tool for fundraising

Add a donate button or fundraising widget to social media tools

Example: Fundraising through blogs - http://maratriangle.wildlifedirect.org/

Empower people to raise funds on your behalf

Example: Using Facebook Causes - http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2318966938

Go beyond purely financial assistance by connecting people directly with beneficiaries who need their expertise or services, or facilitating sharing of experiences: http://www.nabuur.com/

Building a strong community for your cause

Focus your site on a particular conversation, rather than a general mandate

Example: Being focused on a goal/cause - http://www.nothingbutnets.org/

Shifting from message delivery to conversation and sharing

Example: Setting up a facebook group - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4884987604

Upload photos and keep members updated on events

Facilitate conversation through comments 

Use social networking to build awareness and support

Example: Using MySpace to build support for its cause - http://www.myspace.com/oxfam

Question 2: What are some of the best/worst practices of social media?

Best PracticesUsing Social Media for Advocacy

The power of social media allows NGOs to make use of networks to inform people, and to influence public policy and resource allocation outcomes - Social media can be part of an integrated advocacy and media strategy

Regular updates should be provided to supporters on what they can do to advocate your cause

Example: Using a blog to address issues and suggest actions -http://www.genocideintervention.net/advocate/actionalerts/

Create a "Download Center" where volunteers and supporters can obtain all the information to contribute to advocating your cause. Increase interactivity by including embeddable videos, banners and widgets.

Example: A section where supporters can link easily to various social media sites - http://www.wfp.org/1billion

Monitoring Social Media Space

Monitoring social media spaces is vital for NGOs because it is important to know what conversations might transpire regarding their cause, reputation, location or constituents

Monitoring the social media space constantly also allows NGOs to stay current with how other NGOs are using social media and learn from their experiences

Monitoring functions can be carried out by tracking the “nptech” tag on del.ici,ous.

Question 2: What are some of the best/worst practices of social media?

* study by  the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research (June 2009) 

Worst PracticesOutdated Information

Information communicated will not be relevant if content in social media channels are not updated frequently

Example: past dated forums - http://itrc.hkcss.org.hk/ngo2.0/intro.html

Special effort should be taken to ensure that content is updated on a regular basis

Insufficient Contact Information

Profiles and organisational information should be thorough and consistent across the various social media tools used

Insufficient or inaccurate information will have a negative impact on an NGO’s credibility, which might potentially lead to unsuccessful campaigns and lack of member confidence

Unprofessional Website Design

An unprofessional website design might make it unnecessarily difficult for supporters or advocates to share your site with the people in their social networks

Examples: No links to share site - http://www.ngo20.com/

: No links to blog through website - http://www.greenworldindia.org/

Professional web designers should be consulted, if not hired, to ensure that corporate websites are credible and user-friendly

Logo and tag line should fit in with the mission of the NGO in order to communicate a distinct identity to potential members and donors

Question 2: What are some of the best/worst practices of social media?

Singapore: How Social Media Helps

ECO Singapore – Most involved in Social Media amongst Singaporean NGOs

http://www.eco-singapore.org/

Twitter

Sole NGO in Singapore to be active in twitter

Utilized to spread awareness of environmental issues

Facebook

Has reached out to almost 2,000 people till date

Used to publicize news, events and share reports related to climate change such as the COP15 report

Youtube

Uploaded videos of related environmental causes such as the COP15 conference and worldwide environmental news

Question 3: Are there case studies, especially in Singapore but also around Asia, of successful NGO uses of social media?

Singapore: How Social Media Helps

Bone Marrow Donor Programme – Very active in Facebook

http://www.bmdp.org/index.php

Web 2.0 Homepage

Supports contributions in various forms, making donor sign-ups quick and accessible

Makes use of widgets such as ammado for people to easily donate funds

Facebook

Used to share details of events and photos

Raising awareness through various channels such as Interview at Prime Time Morning at Channel News Asia

Sharing news related to Bone Morrow related diseases, such as the current development of a Leukemia vaccine

Question 3: Are there case studies, especially in Singapore but also around Asia, of successful NGO uses of social media?

India: Pratham Books by Pratham

Pratham – Largest NGO in India providing underprivileged children with quality education

http://www.pratham.org/

Gizapage for Pratham Books – Consolidates Social Media activity

http://social.prathambooks.org/

Blog

Scribd

Flickr

Youtube

Twitter

Facebook

Friendfeed

Disqus

Question 3: Are there case studies, especially in Singapore but also around Asia, of successful NGO uses of social media?

India: Pratham Books by Pratham

Key Points for Success

Intricate integration of different social media platforms to reach out to the community

Constant updates on all social media platforms

FriendFeed page averages 15 posts a day

Following 2,116 people on Twitter, 2,248 followers

At least 2 blog posts a day

32 documents on Scribd, 9,494 subscribers and 126,430 reads.

Website is easy to navigate. Background, goals and mission of Pratham and Pratham Books are clearly stated and publicized through Web tools.

Question 3: Are there case studies, especially in Singapore but also around Asia, of successful NGO uses of social media?

List of General List of General Social Media MetricsSocial Media Metrics

PageviewsPageviews, , Unique visitorsUnique visitors, ,

MembersMembers, , Posts (ideas/threads)Posts (ideas/threads), ,

Number of groups (networks/forums), Number of groups (networks/forums), Comments Comments & Trackbacks& Trackbacks, , Tags, Tags, RatingsRatings, ,

RankingsRankings, Time spent on site, , Time spent on site, ContributorsContributors, ,

Active contributorsActive contributors, Word count, , Word count,

ReferralsReferrals, Completed profiles, , Completed profiles,

Connections (between Connections (between members)members), , Ratios: Member to contributorRatios: Member to contributor; ; Posts Posts

to commentsto comments; ; Completed profiles to Completed profiles to postsposts, Periods: By day, week, month, year, , Periods: By day, week, month, year,

FrequencyFrequency: of visits, posts, comments : of visits, posts, comments

Suggested Measures of Social Media Success for NGOs

Number of Online Community members

An NGO’s strength lies in its ability to amass members together to push a cause forward. Awareness alone is not enough, but when people openly support a cause, they give an indication that they are willing to act upon that awareness, which is what truly matters to an NGO. With more members, the NGO stands a better chance of further increasing its strength through word-of-mouth, making it easier to attract the attention of the mass media.

Example: The ironic case of Greenpeace using Facebook to garner new members in support of their protest against Facebook’s plans for a coal-powered data center in Oregon. Greenpeace cites the parallel of how Facebook was made to change its privacy policies due to protests from a large number of its users in the past to further their cause.

Question 4: How might success be measured in the NGO context?

Suggested Measures of Social Media Success for NGOs

Mobilization Time for Activities

NGOs often involve themselves in activities which require member participation. E.g. boycotts, protests, petitions.

One possible way to measure social media success would be to compare mobilization times for these activities before and after social media has been implemented. A shortfall of this measure is that it can only be used on hindsight after a preliminary benchmark has been established.

Number of New Ideas from Social Media Communities

Social media tools give NGOs access to a pool of fresh ideas from those they are connected to. By posing questions through channels such as blogs and fanpages, NGOs are able to solicit innovative solutions to their problems from a wide audience.

The number of ideas generated or implemented from these social media channels can be used as a measure of social media success for NGOs

Question 4: How might success be measured in the NGO context?

Suggested Measures of Social Media Success for NGOs

Donation Amounts and Donor Retention

Mal Warwick, in his presentation about fund raising for non-profit organisations stated that donors tend to desire recognition, appreciation for their contributions and information that inspires their trust. NGOs face severe donor attrition if they do not provide donors with these reciprocations.

Social media provides NGOs with communication tools that engage donors on a more personal level and could therefore be very useful in retaining donors. By overlaying trendlines of social media activity with donation amounts and donor attrition trendlines, it might be possible to draw a connection between the two in order to prove the success of social media in an NGO.

Question 4: How might success be measured in the NGO context?

ConclusionConclusionSocial Media can not only be applied to Social Media can not only be applied to

businesses, it can also be applied to NGOs businesses, it can also be applied to NGOs which have completely different objectives from which have completely different objectives from

corporations.corporations.Some fare better than others depending on the Some fare better than others depending on the

context of usage. It is also important to note context of usage. It is also important to note that although there are examples of NGOs in that although there are examples of NGOs in Asia which have utilized Social Media to their Asia which have utilized Social Media to their

advantage, there are also some who have failed advantage, there are also some who have failed to exercise the proper practices and thus have to exercise the proper practices and thus have

not been able to reap the benefitsnot been able to reap the benefits

Bibliography Nonprofit uses of web 2 0 tools. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://nptechbestpractices.pbworks.com/NonProfit+Uses+of+Web+2+0+Tools

The Social enterprise. (2007, February 13). Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-social-enterprise-how-companies-could-use-web-20

How Companies are benefiting from web 2.0: mckinsey global survey results. (2009, September). Retrieved from http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_companies_are_benefiting_from_Web_20_McKinsey_Global_Survey_Results_2432

Friend feed – SMU Digital Media . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://friendfeed.com/smu-digital-media

Bibliography Bullas, J. (2009, November 23). Study reveals: 13 best practices of social media

implemented by the top 200 us charities. Retrieved from http://jeffbullas.com/2009/11/23/study-reveals-13-best-practices-of-social-media-implemented-by-the-top-200-us-charities/

Samuel, A. (2007, September 28). Best Practices for non-profits using web 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.socialsignal.com/blog/alexandra-samuel/best-practices-for-non-profits-using-web-2-0

Anonymous. (2006, December 6). Web 2.0 in nonprofits. Retrieved from http://nptechbestpractices.pbworks.com/NonProfit+Uses+of+Web+2+0+Tools

African Commons Project. (2009). Social media for ngos. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/AfricanCommonsProject/social-media-for-ngos-new-and-improved-version#stats-bottom

Karp, D. (2009). Using social media to expand your fundraising horizons. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Firstgiving/using-social-media-to-expand-your-fundraising-horizons

Kanter, B. (2009, November 25). 5 social media fundraising trends for 2009. Retrieved from http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/11/five-social-media-fundraising-trends-for-2009.html

Idasa. (2010). Social media for advocacy. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Idasa/tanzania-social-media-for-advocacy

Fitz, J. (Unknown). Three nonprofit website mistakes. Retrieved from http://nonprofit.about.com/od/online/a/websitemistakes.htm

Bibliography Eco Singapore

http://iampingpong.com/?p=1165

http://www.eco-singapore.org/

http://twitter.com/eco_singapore

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=6718125635

http://www.youtube.com/user/ecosingapore

Bone Morrow Donor Programme

http://www.bmdp.org/index.php

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bone-Marrow-Donor-Programme-Singapore/131346231642/

List of NGOs in Singapore

http://www.findouter.com/Asia/Singapore/Society_and_Culture/Non-Governmental_Organisations/

Bibliography Social media in India wiki. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://community.2020social.com/page/Indian+Non-Profits+and+Activists+on+Social+Media

Pratham. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pratham.org/default.aspx

Pratham books – Read India. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.prathambooks.org/home.htm

Pratham books - GizaPage. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://social.prathambooks.org/facebook

How Twitter helped us get books to kids in Kolkata. (2010, February 4). Retrieved from http://blog.prathambooks.org/2010/02/how-twitter-helped-us-get-books-to-kids.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+prathambooks+%28Pratham+Books%29&utm_content=Twitter

Bibliography The Social Organization. (n.d). Social Media Metrics. Retrieved

from http://www.thesocialorganization.com/social-media-metrics.html

Greenpeace International. (2010, February 19). Facebook Update: Renewable Energy Now. Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/facebook-dump-coal190210

Mal Warwick. (2005, November 17). What every nonprofit leader needs to know about fundraising. Retrieved from http://www.malwarwick.com/assets/presentations/what-every-ngo-leader-needs-to-know-11-05.pdf