If You Build It, Will They Come?

TechSoup's online event: Online Activism: Social Media Tools for Social Change this Wed. sparked all sorts of discussions about how to use social networking tools effectively for your organization's goals. Hosts Heather Mansfield and Carie Lewis offered their experience and expertise on best practices for using a variety of different social networking sites from Change.org to MySpace to Facebook.

"If you build it, will they come?", started off one conversation about how to get started building up a community of supporters on social networking sites. Conversations explored whether the benefit was worth the time investment that social media sites required and looked at the value of a new online contact. Other discussions included how to develop an online fundraising campaign, strategies for handling opposition and avoiding inappropriate content, and ways that social networking can fit in with your organization's overall marketing strategy. Host Heather Mansfield has a terrific summary of the day's conversations.

Even though the event is over, the discussions are still ongoing in the TechSoup community forums, so stop by and join in. You can also see an archive of the day's post on del.icio.us under the tag "tsevent_socmedia."

.........................................................

Discuss This in Our Forums

How are you using social media tools for social change? Share your organization's social networking page(s) and let us know what cool Web 2.0 projects you've done.