Associations and those charities with a significant membership base are increasingly looking at where social networking fits into their medium term planning.
Many of us have become used to connecting to family and friends through Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and Bebo. So it should be no surprise that in April 2009 Facebook reached 200 million users and overtook MySpace in unique visits, time spent on the site and, importantly, members over the age of 35.
This growth will continue as the younger generations grow. Already in the US some 75% of all 13-18 year olds use social networks and virtually 100% are on the internet and use email. (FUSE Teen Advertising Study June 2009)
No longer is social networking solely the province of teens and Gen Y and its broad acceptance as a private social communication tool heralds a wider use of the concept of social computing for business.
The fear of lack of control stops many commercial organisations from being active in these forums right now but for member based organisations – where communication truly should be two way already – the opportunities are almost unlimited and certainly positive.
Dan Bricklin of Socialtext, speaking at the 2009 Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston, commented that “Social networking is a way of expressing yourself and collaborating. You need to have it in business to break down barriers and you need to have software to facilitate that.”
The software exists in various forms. IBM touts their SharePoint application and is working tirelessly on linking it with Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook. Various free applications offer versions of community software that extend the concepts of blogs and forums and customised software has been designed for specific community groups.
One such example is a social network designed exclusively for professional and industry associations by issociate that goes live next month.
But the software is only half the story.
In his recent book ‘Connection Generation’ Iggy Pintado refers to the tipping point in 1995 when Netscape Navigator opened the doors to the internet. Google widened the door space in 1998 and what followed in less than fifteen years are web 2.0 and our ability to interact through blogs, wikis, podcasts, video posting and the social media websites.
This evolution to user generated content on the web has empowered us all to put forward our own views, our own information, to an unlimited potential world wide audience in a way that only governments and major corporations could contemplate a decade ago. The web is us!
Introducing online social networking to the members of an association or a commercial enterprise that is based on membership and common interests will therefore not come as a shock. The ground is prepared in our private world. In fact, few member based organisations will be able to ignore social networking within the next five years. Almost certainly they will be building and leveraging their communities, making them an integral part of their overall communications portfolio.
The key will be to build a community using the most appropriate software and encourage the level of interactivity that makes it a viable communication tool and rewarding for all its users.
NFP Analysts will play a role in assisting associations choose the right technology for their social networking capacity.
For more information please contact Martin Long, mlong@nfp.net.au.
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