Non-Profits Getting Their Hands Dirty with Social Media

By Grovo Learning Inc. on March 24, 2012

With the exponential growth of social media use around the globe, an opportunity has presented itself to non-profits, and many have dutifully seized upon it. Non-profits have taken advantage of the fact that millions upon millions of people use social media every minute of every day to broadcast whatever they may be feeling, forming a unique and tangible connection to both their audience and millions outside of it. Different sites afford different capabilities, and non-profits have capitalized on that by adapting their netiquette to each portal.

American Red Cross Twitter

Whenever disaster strikes, the Twitterverse explodes and these non-profits make a great show of how to use Twitter. Twitter Search is an unprecedented tool with the ability to magnify all users’ outrage, disgust, elation or complacence in a time of need, with the attempt to gain enough information to help remedy the situation. If the American Red Cross is mentioned about a particular issue striking a small community, it will be received, and they will eventually see it. The American Red Cross Twitter account is great example of an organization with an engaging voice across social networks.

Planned Parenthood Twitter

Another great example of how a non-profit is using Twitter’s unique Internet etiquette is Planned Parenthood. The non-profit’s political arm, the PP Action Fund, started the Women are Watching campaign that seeks to “educate, engage and activate supporters across the country for the 2012 elections,” using social media as a major tool. Utilizing Twitter’s “retweets,” they were able to turn the stoppage of funding for breast cancer exams from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation into a rallying cry for their supporters. The day the news broke, both “#komen” and “#planned parenthood” were trending on Twitter, with people from regular netizens to lawmakers retweeting “@PPact RT if you#standwithPP.”

Adam Barak Facebook

With Facebook’s slow introduction of Facebook Timeline, the layout redesign was not greeted with much fanfare by the common Facebooker. But to the Israel Anti-Drug Authority it was the perfect tool. Because Facebook’s Timeline layout splits a user’s past activity down the middle, with stories appearing both on the left and the right, the IADA was able to show the life of fictional character “Adam Barak” as it has played out drug-free, on the right, and drug induced, on the left. The IADA was able to make easy use of this by cataloging events with pictures that show his life slowly deteriorating over time, highlighting issues like his relationship and his sleeping arrangements as they progress, and worsen, in both timelines.

How will you use social media to better the world in 2012?

This is a guest post from Patrick Pellicano of Grovo.com, an Internet education and training platform, where users can learn everything from Facebook Timeline to how to use Kickstarter.