Nuts and Bolts of Online Social Networks
What Are Online Social Networks (OSN)?
Online communities of people that share interests and activities through the web, text messaging, blogging,
online video, online chats, etc.
Should Your Organization Incorporate Social Networking Into Your Online Communications Plans?
Online Social Networks should be viewed as one of many tools to engage your current base and reach out to new supporters. To truly take advantage of OSN organizations need to invest a significant amount of time building up their presence in these communities. If an organization can't commit to updating their OSNprofiles every couple of days, actively "befriend" new people and engage existing "friends" it's not worth the time and resources.
Can I Recruit One Million People Through OSN Like The Obama Campaign?
In short, what you put into OSN is what you get out of them. OSN can be powerful communities but they are also trendy so be careful about putting too much faith in them as a recruitment tool. While the Obama Campaign may have over one million members on MySpace and Facebook, one million friends are not actively campaigning for Obama and donating tons of money to his campaign.
Social Networking Communities:
del.icio.us: A social book-marking online community.
DIGG: Web users "DIGG" and comment on the latest news.
Facebook: Originally built as an online community for students to post personal profiles and keep in touch
with friends but is now open to the public and non-profit organizations.
Flickr: Online hub for storing and sharing photos.
LinkedIn: A networking site for business professionals.
MySpace: Interactive website that supports user profiles, blogs, videos, photos, etc. It's more of an
entertainment driven OSN.
Twitter: Allows users to send 140 character updates or "tweets" via text messaging, the web, or instant
messenger.
StumbleUpon: Web users who like to check out and rate the latest new websites.
Upcoming.org: Users posts upcoming events by city and category and invite people to RSVP online.
YouTube: Community of people who like to share, rate and comment on videos.
1. Recruit New Friends: Search for users who share similar interests to your organization's mission
and befriend them. Also take some time to get to know them. At the end of the day OSN are about
building a base of "friends."
2. Freshen Up Profiles: Update user profiles every couple of days with new stories, interesting facts,
new videos, blog entries, photos, etc.
3. Keep It Casual: Messaging should have a casual tone as if you were talking to a friend on email. It
should not be wonky or preachy.
4. Get To The Point: You are competing with hundreds and sometimes even thousands of "friends"
profiles and messages. Keep your messages short and to the point. Provide links back to your
website for more detailed information.
5. Two-Way Communication: Ask your "members/friends" to share their opinions and have them post
their responses online. Respond to their comments so they know someone is reading their posts.
Founder Allyson Kapin's idea for a panel @ SXSW. "Breaking Through the Digital Ceiling".
Totally Rad
Rad Campaign hosted Women Who Tech: A Telesummit for Women in Technology. Podcasts are now available!
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