People and Technology Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Connect with New Supporters In many ways, it’s never been easier to connect people with your cause. Here’s what you need to know. By Allison Fine an social networks and vir- and MySpace, where participants in 83% of public high schools and tual communities revolu- use their everyday networks to 77% of middle schools. Obligatory Ctionize the way people give share information about causes could have backfired their time, talent, and treasure? in the same way they share infor- and created a resentful group of An answer to that question must mation about their love lives. And young people. Instead, millenni- begin with an understanding of the there are social networking sites als’ lives are infused with giving, millennials, a new generation who exclusively focused on activism, volunteering, and eventually tak- came of age at the turn of the cen- such as Change.org and Razoo. ing up careers dedicated to causes. tury. They’re a generation defined by the Millennials are passionate about fervent belief they can change the social causes, brimming with new Virtual worlds offer world one , one voluntary approaches, eager to effect change, activity, or one purchase at a time. and equipped with the digital tools compelling tools for They’re less interested in and ad- and people power to make it hap- creating an experience ept at interacting with government pen. They’re “social citizens,” rep- agencies and shaping public policy, resenting an era of citizen partici- around your organization and more interested in hands-on pation that combines idealism and ways of improving people’s lives digital fluency. or issue. domestically and internationally. Millennials raise awareness and Living Immersed in Technology When the “Causes” application money for nonprofits, bring causes Digital connectedness is as natu- was posted on Facebook, more to their corporate workplaces, start ral to young people’s way of being than 30,000 causes were created socially responsible businesses, eat as telephones were to their par- on the site in just six months, sustainable foods, and buy green ents. Beyond using social media supporting over 12,000 existing products. And they do all of these to connect with others and share nonprofit organizations. On such things by embracing the overarch- information, they’re prolific con- social networking sites, users are ing capitalist system—not reject- tent creators. The lines between drawn to the cause first, then the ing it as many of their parents did real and virtual lives are blurred in organization. Joe Green, CEO of in the 1960s and 1970s. this new mode called “immersive Causes on Facebook, notes, “There Overall, young people today living.” It’s second-nature for them could be 1,000 causes aiming to have the incentives, the capabili- to use online organizing tools to help SaveDarfur.org with lots of ties, and the models in place to mount protests about issues they different leaders and networks and be involved. In many ways, it has care about. lots of people reaching out in many never been easier. ways.” Interconnecting All the Time Being Mobile and Connected Online social networks are the Living the Cause Lifestyle Millennials are using all the digi- superglue of millennial activism. It would be challenging to find tal tools at their fingertips to share These networks, popping up across one millennial who hasn’t been ex- pictures, feelings, and informa- all segments of society, geography, posed to causes early and often in tion about their causes with their and ideologies, divide into two schools, congregations, stores, and social networks. Mobile phones types. There are general social net- through mass media. Cause-related have become the go-to device of working sites, such as Facebook activities have swirled around mil- youth connectedness and activ- lennials their entire lives, and the ism. Young people from Korea to impact shows. the Philippines to the United States Nonprofit World • Volume 27, Number 3 July/August 2009 In the 1990s, service-learning have been using text messages to Published by the Society for Nonprofit Organizations 5820 Canton Center Road, Suite 165, Canton, Michigan 48187 requirements became the norm increase the youth vote. A dedi- 734-451-3582 • www.snpo.org

20 • NONPROFIT WORLD www.snpo.org Volume 27, Number 4 What’s in Web 2.0 Blogs (short for Web logs) are online journals hosted on a Web site and often distributed to other sites or readers using RSS. Collective intelligence refers to any system that taps the expertise of a group rather than an individual to make decisions. Technologies that contribute to collective intelligence include collaborative publishing and common databases for sharing knowledge. Friending is the act of making friends on a social network. cated Web site, MobileActive.org, has even emerged to Mash-ups are aggregations of content from different chronicle this type of usage. This is a grassroots move- online sources to create a new service. An example ment more easily conceived and carried out than any would be a program that pulls apartment listings from letter-writing campaign, and driven by an authentic one site and displays them on a Google map to show desire to participate. where the apartments are located. Mobile phones aren’t the beginning and end of con- Microbloggers write just a sentence or fragment at nectivity, however. Millennials use the full contingent a time, and their postings are less formal and more of social media tools in support of their beliefs. They frequent than those of bloggers. Young people use mi- use blogs and videos on YouTube to share information croblogging sites like Twitter and Jaiku to write one- or about their causes, and they raise money for nonprof- two-sentence updates about what they’re doing at that its through Web sites such as DoSomething.org. precise moment. Blending Worlds—and Financial Models Peer-to-peer is a way for donors to cre- ate their own Web pages to ask their friends to support Millennials are merging the lines between for-profit a cause. and nonprofit structures and concepts. Social activism Peer-to-peer networking (sometimes called P2P) is has become the new marketplace, where goods and a technique for sharing files (music, videos, or text) services are exchanged not just for money but also for over the Internet or within a set of users. Unlike the good social outcomes. traditional method of storing a file on one machine Millennials have voracious consumer habits but (which can become a bottleneck if many people try they’re more than purchasers of goods. They’re to access it at once), P2P distributes files across many shapers of corporate behavior. They’re drawn to machines, often those of the users themselves. brands with strong socially responsible cultures and Podcasts are audio or video recordings—a multime- expect businesses to take direct, concrete actions to dia form of a blog or other content. They are often dis- address social ills. According to a study by Cone, Inc., tributed through an aggregator, such as iTunes. that examined youth trends, an overwhelming 74% RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows people to indicated that they’re more likely to pay attention to subscribe to online distributions of news, blogs, pod- a company’s overall messages when they see that the casts, or other information. company has a deep commitment to a cause. Social networking occurs when members of a spe- cific site share information about their skills, talents, Unbound by real life’s limitations, you knowledge, and preferences with each other. Examples of social networks include Facebook and LinkedIn. can educate, involve, and connect young Web services are software systems that make it easier for systems to communicate with one another people in ways not previously possible. automatically in to pass information or conduct transactions. For example, a retailer and a supplier might automatically update each other’s inventory As a result, has become faster, flatter, systems. more creative, and democratic. Millennials give small Widgets (also known as gadgets, , or modules) amounts online to schools in low-income neighbor- are mini-Web-pages placed within other Web pages. hoods; at the supermarket to help feed victims of natu- Your organization can create a fundraising widget and ral disasters; and to political candidates through their ask supporters to place it on their blogs, Web sites, Web sites. How, why, and how much to give is being and social networking pages to help raise funds and redefined day by day, cause to cause by millennials. promote your cause. Seeing with Moral Clarity Wikis, such as Wikipedia, are systems for collabora- Millennials gravitate toward causes with moral clar- tive publishing, in which many authors contribute to ity. For example, the situation in the Middle East isn’t an online document. easily grasped. The genocide in Darfur, conversely, —from The McKinsey Quarterly, www.mckinseyquarterly.com and Mobilizing Generation 2.0 (www.mobilizingyouth.org) continued on page 22

July/August 2009 www.snpo.org NONPROFIT WORLD • 21 A New World of Possibilities Consider these ideas to engage young people, raise dia-sharing sites (such as YouTube and Flickr) to re- funds, forge new connections, and create change be- port on your organization’s plans and activities. Create yond virtual borders. mini-media-channels to attract and inform supporters • Monitor the blogosphere for postings on your or- and document your organization’s work. ganization and your cause. Think of the blogosphere • Ask your supporters to take an online survey as a giant free focus group. Google will do a blog search about their use of social networks. Web sites like Sur- and e-mail results to you on a daily basis. veyMonkey.com make it easy to administer this type • Recruit supporters and raise funds through so- of poll. cial networks such as Facebook and Razoo. Visit some • Tactics that work in the real world work just as social networks, and use their built-in search tools to well, if not even better, in virtual worlds. You can con- find people who list interests aligned with your orga- duct outreach events, create immersive educational nization. experiences, sell virtual objects for , conduct • Consider using a charity (or widget)—one pledge drives, and organize meetups—a term that re- of the most powerful ways to disseminate your mes- fers to a group of people who meet online and then sage across the Internet—to advertise your organiza- coordinate a face-to-face meeting. Virtual worlds of- tion, send text messages, and accept . fer compelling tools for creating an experience around • Identify bloggers who share your organization’s your organization or issue. Unbound by real life’s limi- positions, and get to know them. Supply them with tations, you can educate, involve, and connect young content for their posts. Build relationships with blog- people in ways not previously possible. gers, who will then help you promote your stories. —from Mobilizing Generation 2.0 (Jossey-Bass, • Use video-sharing, photo-sharing, and other me- www.josseybass.com, www.mobilizingyouth.org)

is crystal clear; people are being and why institutions are needed to slaughtered solely because of their address causes, and when a protest ethnicity, and something needs to campaign or a blog will do. be done to stop it now. Organiza- People like Ben Rattray of tions most attractive to young Chang.org, Ivan Boothe and Mark people are those that create crisp, Hannis of GI-Net, Matt and Jessica concise messages and make explic- Flannery of Kiva, and Joe Green it connections between donations and Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook and the concrete differences that are using social media to improve will result in someone’s life. the world, and in the process are changing the very definition of So What Does It All Mean? change itself. The next step is to fo- What does all the clicking, blog- cus on ways to motivate larger cir- ging, and “friending” add up to in cles of young people beyond their the end? Ivan Boothe describes normal networks. And it must be the new model of change this way, done in a meaningful way, so that “If you just need bodies on a rally, Exploring the 2.0 World we can define or at least measure names on a petition, or donations the successful change that is gen- For more 2.0 perspectives, take in your coffers, mobilizing through erated. a look at these Nonprofit World traditional means will work great. pieces, available at www.snpo. But if you need an active, educat- Allison Fine is a senior on org/members: ed, and effective movement, orga- the Democracy Team at Demos: A Net- How to Make Social-Media nizing through social webs has the work for Ideas & Action in New York Fundraising Work for You (Vol. potential to create much more last- City, where she researches and writes 27, No. 2) ing change.” about the future of social change and A Charity Badge to Raise Millennials value peer relation- civic engagement in the digital age. Dough? (Vol. 27, No. 3) ships over institutional loyalty. She authored the book Momentum: Ig- Is It Time to Consider New Young people will engage enthusi- niting Social Change in the Connected Ways to Communicate? (Vol. 25, astically in a campaign about which Age (Jossey-Bass, www.josseybass. No. 4) they feel passionate, but their sup- com) and the paper Social Citizens- Using Social Media to Advance port is likely to vanish once that BETA (the Case , www. Your Goals (Vol. 27, No. 1) campaign ends. Institutions will casefoundation.org), from which this Increase Donations in a Down need to look, feel, and actually article is adapted. Visit www.Social Citizens.org to learn more about the Economy? With Social Media, be quite different to engage them. Case Foundation’s conversation with Yes, You Can! (Vol. 27, No. 3) Millennials can be instrumental in questioning and assessing when millennials.

22 • NONPROFIT WORLD www.snpo.org Volume 27, Number 4