Can Social Media be used for Social Good?
My friend Geoff Livingston and many others believe that it can. From what I have seen so far, social media gives non-profits the ability to reach out, spread the word, develop communities, and have conversations in ways that traditional marketing never could─or at least not in a way that wouldn’t potentially eat up an entire year’s marketing budget.
Seeing it in action has led me to believe that social media and the tools available can help non-profits. But what I have noticed is that blog posts on social causes, Facebook Causes (people join the cause, but that’s about it), tweets on causes, etc. never get the same attention as the latest social media snafu or raging social media debate.
With the world more connected now than it ever has been, non-profits have a way to use these connections to share someone’s pain from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. But what good is that if their social media efforts aren’t moving society for the good of that cause?
I think one of the new challenges non-profits face is the ability to get the people they network with online to move into offline action as well and even perhaps simultaneously.
Geeks who Give
Geeks who Give, here in Philadelphia, proved last night that this combination is fruitful indeed. With over 100+ people attending their charity event and tweet up they were able to collect over 900+ lbs. of food for Philabundance. They built the buzz up using social media and enticed us to donate food (the price of entry) by promising a great time at National Mechanics. And they delivered just that with a cooking demonstration (Fork demonstrated how to make an easy meal completely out of non-perishable foods) and karaoke. Geeks who Give will be utilizing social media for social good throughout the year as they continue to support local charities.
Save Darfur
Another cause that is showing great momentum by utilizing social media for social good is Save Darfur. A little bit about Save Darfur:
“Around the country and across the globe, the Save Darfur Coalition is inspiring action, raising awareness and speaking truth to power on behalf of the people of Darfur. Working with world leaders, we are demanding an end to the genocide, and our efforts are getting results.”
The Save Darfur campaign is utilizing a balanced combination of online and offline activism to help educate people and raise donations to help end this terrible genocide. The Facebook application alone has over 1 million members that have raised $75,000. And their student grassroots effort, Dollars for Darfur, raised more than $450,000 and engaged thousands of schools.
If you are with a non-profit, let us know if social media is working for you and how you combine online and offlice advocacy.
[Image: OneBigU]
Even More Goodness! Related Posts:
Tags: Geeks Who Give, geoff livingston, Qui Diaz, Save Darfur, social good, Social Media
16 Responses to “Can Social Media be used for Social Good?”
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We actually talked about this in the inaugural causechat the other night at http://thecauseisthehabit.com/chat
The topic was “Social Media for Social Causes” and the transcript can be found at http://tr.im/smforsc. There are some great ideas put forth there as well as some ones to really expand upon.
Damien Basile’s last blog post..The Wonderful Ways of Wicked
Beth:
I too have been asking this question lately. I think the potential is definitely there. It will be interesting to see how nonprofits leverage their social communities. Much like the future of marketing, I think that the future of philanthropy is there.
PS, love the icons.
My social cause posts get about 1/4 of the traffic of my marketing posts — if that. I don’t care. Doing good, doing right is what matters to me. If it makes me less popular then less popular I shall be.
It gets back to the old adage from Dale Carnegie. People are primarily concerned with themselves. personal branding means more to them than doing good. And that’s just human nature. But some of us, like you, feel differently. One by one we can affect change.
Geoff Livingston’s last blog post..Two Case Studies Featuring LComm Work
Beth,
My blog has on several occasions interviews non-profits and carried news and ideas about giving. Social Media is a great way to spread word of mouth.
Social Media can definitely be used for Social Good. It can be used to find those that want to make a positive change. We’re using it successfully to connect interested donors with global causes.
Sean Wood’s last blog post..A Really Good Video
Beth,
Great post.
I think it is really a factor of non-profit folks just not knowing how to use SM to promote their cause. Post-Katrina our firm helped the Burger King franchise in New Orleans/Baton Rouge launch Campaign for your Cause.
It was wildly successful because we gave Non-profits the tools, both online and offline, to champion their cause and ultimately win portions of a large donation from BK.
Just last month I gave a SM talk to the Louisiana Association of Non-profits and what I thought was an entry level talk was considered intermediate or even advanced by many in the audience.
When the average caring consumer becomes as technologically fluent as the tech geeks, I think you’ll see this change. We’ll see.
Thanks Beth for plugging the higher calling. It’s not for everyone, which just means more for the rest of us!
@kanter recently shared her motivitating new presentation: “Easy ways to be a geek who gives” via Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/kanter/social-media-breakfast-presentation-834797.
We’ll be seeing more of this ‘do-good business’ interwoven into the larger business conversation next year, no doubt. I’m compiling a list of ways to give/charities to give to for Mashable right now – a great opportunity to shed additional light on social media for social good. Suggestions welcome!
Qui Diaz’s last blog post..Be a Voice for Darfur (and meet the new Facebook Petition)
Beth, Interesting post. In my experience non-profits as a whole are slow on the uptake with any new technology and social media definitely falls into that category. When what you are selling is your story, you should be sharing that story anywhere you can.
Every non-profit should have a blog, twitter account and Facebook page before they do any traditional marketing. But as your Louisiana experience confirms few people in non-profits have technology, marketing or business backgrounds. Those that do I imagine become very successful in their fundraising.
Hi Beth – came to this post from Twitter (thanks @seanbohan!).
We launched TrainforHumanity.org with nothing BUT social media to keep overhead at $0.00. Our aim is to assist orphans and refugees who’ve been affected by genocide and civil war.
To date, our fundraising has been a little slower than we had originally thought. However, we’ve been blown away by the number of people who email us to state their interest in participating in phase two.
Thanks for the thoughtful post!
Mark H.
http://trainforhumanity.org
mark_hayward’s last blog post..Mark Hayward Completes Miami Man Triathlon
Hi Beth, great post.
It’s so refreshing to see someone speaking about how we can use Social media to help with the great good, rather than for corporate or self gain. In doing a Google search for social media and social good, I found your post and another very interesting blogger whom writes on similar topics, Allison Fine who writes A. Fine Blog (http://afine2.wordpress.com/)
That’s so fabulous what GeeksWhoGive did – 9,000 pounds of canned goods! In Boston, the social media crew helped get two truck loads of food donated by Tyson Foods
http://tinyurl.com/5cn9vv
Anyway, wonderful summary of the event and will definitely tweet this post.
Beth Kanter’s last blog post..Giveaway: A License for Techsmith’s Screencasting Tools – Camtasia and Snagit
Everyone, thank you so much for the insights and examples! I think the key for helping non-profits is to provide the ability for people to converge offline too.
@TomMartin, thank you so much for the BurgerKing example. It was the perfect convergence of online and offline action.
@QuiDiaz, looking forward to your Mashable post!
@PeterRenton, I have seen a lot of non-profits embrace social media. The other thing I’d like to add is that I am not sure that jumping right into a blog, Twitter account, Facebook cause, etc. is the way to go. I think non-profits need to sit back and “listen” just like anyone else…and should utilize the tools that their donors/supporters typically use or feel comfortable with. For example, I support St. Jude and the Philadelphia SPCA via Facebook, but I would never donate on there. I prefer to send a check.
@Alison Charter-Smith, so glad that we found each other here. I am really looking forward to see how non-profits continue to embrace social media in 2009. And thanks for sharing Allison’s blog with me.
Beth, Thanks for the response. I take your point that you need to listen and know where your donors are. If you are the Alzheimers Association and going after the over 50 crowd, social media may not be the place to be. What I hate to see is non-profits wasting their money on direct mail and telemarketing where they would get more bang for their limited budget by investing in online activities. I believe they can share their story and gather donations far more effectively this way.
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