“The Benefit’s of Facebook ‘Friends:’ Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites” Reading

Social Networking Sites (SNS) are a big part of today’s online culture and this article was a great description of how a study on Facebook and college students synced up.  In relation to our group project I thought that this was particularly interesting because College Students are a target population for investment in the non-profit we are marketing for.  Also I think the face that social capital is a result of sites like Facebook is important to the project as well.  We are all valuable in the cost of change….

 

So on to the article…

 

Brief description on Facebook, “…Facebook, enables its users to present themselves in an online profile, accumulate ‘friends’ who can post comments on each other’s pages, and view each other’s  profiles. Facebook members can also join virtual groups based on common interests, see what classes  they have in common, and learn each others’ hobbies, interests, musical tastes, and romantic  relationship status through the profiles” (1143).

 

What’s interesting about this description is that many of the interests people have in common are offline activities and the article goes into further description about how Facebook bridges offline and online.  “A hallmark of this early research is the presumption that when online and offline social  networks overlapped, the directionality was online to offline—online connections resulted in face-to-face meetings. For instance, Parks and Floyd (1996) report that one-third of their respondents later met their online correspondents face-to-face. As they write, ‘These findings imply that relationships that  begin on line rarely stay there’(n.p.)” (1144).  Aren’t we trying in all the classes to bridge this gap?  I mean it comes down to not just making an ONLINE SOCIAL CHANGE but OFFLINE REAL WORLD ACTION. 

 

Another interesting point the article brings up is that Facebook began in 2004 as a College only SNS.  It then expanded to High School, and beyond the article we know it to have expanded to everyone.  By starting in College it implies a few things about the software, that it was targeted to a young and active community. 

 

With such a young start, Facebook had to overcome issues like privacy.  What was unique about Facebook limiting the kinds prospective participants was that by keeping it to College students, some of the privacy tension was alleviated. 

 

But the biggest point of the article is that Facebook and other SNSs created a new way to increase social capital and, “Greater social capital increases commitment to a community and the ability to mobilize collective actions, among other benefits. Social capital may also be used for negative purposes, but in general social capital is seen as a positive effect of interaction among participants in a social network (Helliwell & Putnam, 2004)” (1145)  Which is exactly why Facebook has such potential to grow social causes.  To get people motivated through social capital is the kind of relationship that transcends platforms because it can create real world action. 

 

The article also points out that SNSs can give people access to all kinds of new information, “Access to individuals outside one’s close circle provides access to non-redundant information, resulting in benefits such as employment connections (Granovetter, 1973)” (1146).  They can support long distance relationships and give us a new kind of community, “Bridging social capital might be augmented by such sites, which support loose social ties, allowing users to create and maintain larger, diffuse networks of relationships from which they could potentially draw resources (Donath & boyd, 2004; Resnick, 2001; Wellman et al., 2001)” (1146).

 

The article then goes on to show a study done with collegiate students and what the effects of Facebook were on the community.  What came out of the research was that many used Facebook, many have used Facebook to connect with people (offline to online), Facebook members had greater self esteem, and that Facebook helped students, “…accumulate and maintain bridging social capital” (1162).

 

The possibilities with this kind of platform are intense.  SNS has the potential to reach and impact so many participants.  In today’s cluttered media environment I don’t see many more EFFECTIVE ways to influence people.  Media will always do what it does to influence us but, it seems that we influence each other more than any Big Media ever could.  By linking a friendship via SNS you are linking to that person’s likes and dislikes and likewise them to yours.  Can you think of a better way to accumulate Social Capital?  I can’t!

Converstations 2

Hello All,

  We have continued converstations via Facebook — Here is an image of the Facebook messages to get an idea of how much conversing has been happening:

Also we have been using Facebookchat and those messages have not been included in this document. 

 

Thanks!

Questions List we used for Globalhood meeting

Questions List

Where do you see Globalhood and Global Potential in five years?

 What is your biggest challenge as an organization?

 

 Who are you targeting for investment?

 What current social media activities do your constituents and stakeholders participate in now?  

 What kind of tactics do you use to break through the clutter of non-profit organizations?

 What are your marketing objectives?

 What is the primary goal for Globalhood and Global Potential using social media: fundraising, advocacy, public relations, combination?

 What kind of marketing strategies have you used in the past?

 What kind of tone do you think your outreach programs have maintained?

 How successful have these strategies been?

 Why did you agree to partner with this course?

 

Project Plan Draft 1

Facebook Team – Globalhood & Global Potential

Project Design Draft

June 21, 2008

Team Members: Lara Michaud, Jon Stobezski, Megan Galbraith

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I: Statement of Project Purpose

II: Why Facebook?

III: Opportunities and Challenges

IV: Marketing Objectives

V: Marketing Plans

VI: Marketing Strategies

VII: Project Implementation

VIII: Globalhood and Global Potential Background

 

I: STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

 

To develop short and long-term social marketing strategies for Globalhood and its pilot program Global Potential.  The strategies will aim to market to and identify Globalhood and Global Potential’s current and prospective stakeholders using the Social Networking Site (SNS) Facebook and interrelated social media platforms and technologies.

 

II: WHY FACEBOOK?

Why did we choose Facebook when the majority of youth populations use MySpace?

1: Facebook is up and coming…

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/04/16/facebook-vs-MySpace-battle-global-social-network-dominance

“MySpace still has a hefty traffic lead over Facebook in the U.S., so it was big news when ComScore released 2008 data that showed Facebook gaining quickly on MySpace in international traffic. According to the data, Facebook already gets more international page views than MySpace and is gaining quickly in unique visitors. In January, Facebook had 100.7 million unique international visitors compared to MySpace’s 109.3 million; a difference of just 8% compared to a year ago when the difference was nearly 400%. While some other social networking tools dominate in specific international markets, no other platform comes close to the two U.S. giants in overall audience and reach.”

2: Facebook is constantly updating status and tracking status…more collaborative

http://media.www.anchorweb.org/media/storage/paper1224/news/2008/04/29/Opinions/Facebook.Vs.Myspace-3355703.shtml

“The “stalker feed,” for those who do not know, will let you know of almost any activity your friends have on Facebook. This includes leaving messages on someone else’s boards, updating photos and joining groups. I find the event invitations on Facebook better than those on Myspace as well.”

3: Facebook allows integration with the following software: Twitter (cell phone/web application), Flickr (photo-sharing application), etc.

http://media.www.fairfieldmirror.com/media/storage/paper148/news/2008/04/03/Entertainment/Facebook.Vs.Myspace-3296860.shtml

“…MySpace lacks applications, pokes and several other boredom busters that are all proudly boasted by Facebook”

4: Facebook is socially conscious

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/about

“Causes provides the tools so that any Facebook user can leverage their network of real friends to effect positive change.”

5: MySpace is about creating individualized personal space, Facebook is about socially active grouping

http://news.cnet.com/1606-2-6187901.html

Video Imbed code:

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III: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING FACEBOOK PROJECT

 

 

1: Challenges

 

• Age of targeted communities – access to technology, kinds of technology they use (i.e. MySpace)
• Acquiring potential donors
• Training Global Potential staff and youth participants on digital platforms
• Digital divide for youth population both in states and in DR communities(i.e. access to technology and learned materials)
• Maintaining relationships within and between the youth population and the DR families
• Defining the targets with an umbrella organization – due to Global Potential being a part of Globalhood
• Some of the youth population that use SNS are involved with MySpace and not Facebook

 

2: Opportunities

Global Potential’s Uniqueness

·         Existing offline networking already exists through it use of participatory and experiential approaches across disciplines, cultures, and countries, to foster personal, professional, and academic growth for underserved youth.

·         Recognizes the importance of shared outcomes in sustainable development, and seeks to maximize the promise of youth to create effective and innovative change across multiple contexts.

·         Brings proven program models of international education and experience programs to underserved populations.

·         Is focused on long-term outcomes for youth, through employment training and entrepreneurship opportunities

·         Alumni network potential

·        Globalhood’s collaborative mission engages multiple partners and multiple integrated marketing channel

IV: FACEBOOK PROJECT MARKETING OBJECTIVES

·         To create a SNS platform that both promotes Globalhood, Global Potential and creates a dialogue around social issues affecting involved youth populations

o        Social Marketing aspect:

§         To potential funding sources

§         To eventual alumni community

·         To get current and potential offline stakeholders involved in Global Potential online and involved in Social Networking

·         To grow Globahood and Global Potential community

o        Youth population

o        Alumni of the Youth Population

o        Adults interested in social change and active in Facebook

·         To sustain Global Potential

o        Support future trips

o        Increase student involvement and interest in Global Potential trips and socio-economic empowerment

o        Facilitate adaption of program to new countries

·         To gain funding from new resources to grow the project

o        New foundations

o        Active adults interested in social change

o        Sponsorship from brands that have the same values

V: MARKETING PLAN

 

Short Term:

o        Provide a blueprint on how to leverage Facebook to build relationships online

o        Set Global Potential up with the necessary tools to broaden audience base and potentially increase revenue streams (ie: Facebook Page, You Tube Channel, Flickr Account, Twitter)

o        Activate the youth population and Global Potential staff to work online with SNS software for the Global Potential project and to develop an active alumni team of past participants

o        Integrate Social Marketing with Social Media projects (where applicable) into Facebook project

 

Long Term:

o        Market to foundations, potential investors and brand investors

o        Build a network on SNS platforms of partnerships, including existing NGO partners and other in-country organizations, socially conscious people to contribute financially and as project advocates

o        To retain alumni and integrate them into the social networking growth

 

VI: MARKETING STRATEGIES

• Identify constituent management software, such as Convio,to manage the list of contributing partners and get them integrated into the Global Potential SNS
• Crossover linkage and integration with multiple Social Networking Sites
• MySpace integration – cross platform posting, linking, etc.
• YouTube integration – cross platform posting, linking, etc.

• Create a SNS club at the target high school and upcoming high schools
  • Getting the Youth population interested in SNS
  • Getting the Youth population access to technology
• Get involved in Non-Profit Technology Network
• Integrating Twitter into SNS and Cell Phone as a Marketing tool
  • Twittering the status of the project to the Global Potential community
  • Twittering to/from site (Dominican Republic)
  • Twittering via cell phone to/from the SNS
• Blog or Message Board editorial writing (staff required and tracking software)
  • News updates
  • Tracking views (on page or other people’s pages), history, personal information – to identify new targets
  • Video messaging
  • Photography

 

VII: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE – Tentative

 

Week of June 23-June 29

 

·         Meet with Globalhood to review Facebook Project Plan

·         Develop Global Potential Facebook page, Flickr account, You Tube Channel and provide Globalhood staff with necessary user info and resources

·         Identify and engage Facebook groups with connections to mission of Globalhood and Global Potential

·         Identify and cross-collaborate with other SOMA projects to integrate into Facebook Project

Week of June 30-July 6

tbd (pending prior week)

 

Week of July 7-July 13

tbd

 

Week of July 14-July 20

tbd

 

Week of July 21-July 27

tbd

 

Week of July 28-August 3

tbd

 

VIII: NON-PROFIT BACKGROUND: Globalhood and Global Potential

 

1: Description of Globalhood

 

Globalhood believes that all people and organizations working in development can be more successful by coordinating efforts, exchanging expertise, sharing outcomes and building connections with each other. By building a diverse community of practitioners, experts, students and volunteers, we aim to create more effective approaches to addressing both local and global challenges.  We aim to achieve the following:

• More effective development projects, fewer wasted resources.
  Our multidisciplinary services enable projects to access ideas, techniques and information that they might not otherwise have considered, and to avoid potential pitfalls that they might not otherwise have foreseen.
• A streamlined approach to finding diverse knowledge and skills.
  We provide a centralized place for accessing a wide assortment of knowledge and experience. This one-stop approach allows project leaders to save time that would otherwise be spent hunting for various consultants and resources.
• Opportunities to tap into under-utilized human capital.
  Globalhood’s network model allows us to call on the and experience of many experts and practitioners who are only available on a part-time basis. We provide opportunities for people to get involved in international development work.
• The formation of a collaborative community.
  Globalhood fosters a proactive and collaborative environment where professionals already working within the nonprofit field will be able to easily exchange ideas and form partnerships.

2: Program Description of Global Potential

Global Potential, one of Globalhood’s projects, believes in the untapped capacity that underserved youth and communities have to help themselves and help each other.  Their mission is to create positive socio-economic change for underserved youth and their communities in low-income urban neighborhoods, and for marginalized rural communities in the Dominican Republic. 

Global Potential utilizes a six-stage model that gives selected youth the opportunity to chart their own path within the program. In addition to the general curriculum which focuses on leadership, life skills, global awareness, civic participation, and social entrepreneurship, the youth are able to choose from among the following ‘vocational paths’: education, health agriculture, cooking, nutrition, construction, art, journalism, technology, environmental conservation, and community service. Each of these fields is designed to be able to give youth a set of skills that will enable them to contribute to a rural village in the Dominican Republic, to their own communities in Brooklyn, and to their own employability. Following a 3 month local training period, youth travel as a team to live within a rural community and participate for 2 months in a community-identified development project while continuing to gain practical vocational experience with local professionals. Upon their return home, youth have the opportunity to engage over the next 6 months in ongoing vocational training with their mentors, or general support, depending on the path they have chosen for themselves. In a supportive environment of their peers and of professional program staff, they will have ample opportunity to discuss and reflect upon issues that affect communities locally and globally, and themselves personally. As a team, the youth will also be supported in designing an entrepreneurial idea for addressing a need in their own community, and upon their return home will present that idea to our partner organization, Ashoka Youth Venture, and numerous other organizations, for funding and support

 

Global Potential Program Objectives

·         To facilitate experiential learning and growing opportunities in new and challenging environments for traditionally marginalized youth (potential next-generation leaders)

·         To address development challenges in rural areas of the Dominican Republic

·         To foster increased understanding, tolerance and appreciation among world communities and youth cohorts that may not traditionally interact with one another

·         To foster constructive and sustainable relationships between youth and their own communities

·         To maximize social entrepreneurship opportunities for youth to benefit their communities

3: Target Audiences for for Global Potential and Globalhood

 

Part 1 – Social Network Community Development

PT 1 Demographics:

- Urban, low income Adolescence (13-19) – Propect Heights School

- Alumni (previous participants of the project)

- In- country partner organizations

 

PT 1 Psychographics (mind set of the target):

Open-Minded

Active

Community Oriented

Accountable

Sustainable

 

Part 2 – Fundraising Targets

PT 2 Demographics:

- Individual donors – young professionals

- Foundations

 

PT 2 Psychographics (mind set of the target):

- Open-Minded

- Socially Active

- Community Oriented

- Socially and Globally Conscious

- College educated

4: Current Online Presence and Use of SNS

Globalhood and Global Potential each have organizational websites and blogs that link to one another

• Globalhood’s website has a registration device, Global Potential does not
• Global Potential’s blog is not yet being utilized
• Globalhood uses some social networking sites (Facebook page, MySpace page, etc.) to send out event invites
• Globalhood and in turn Global Potential has a database of approximately 1,700 constituents that get regular newsletters about upcoming events and project status

5: Global Potential Summer 2008 Pilot Trip Facts

·         10 youth participants, ranging from ages 17-19, and Executive Director Frank Cohn, depart in approximately 2 weeks for the Dominican Republic

·         Youth participants are Haitian, Dominican, and Chinese

·         In the Dominican Republic the group will only have internet access 1X per week

·         Cell phone access will be limited

·         $1,400 pp for the trip

 

6: Globalhood’s Partner Network

A: ASHOKA

http://www.ashoka.org/youthventure

·         Ashoka has a three pronged approach for their fellows.

- Supporting social entrepreneurs – provides living stipends to social entrepreneurs allowing them to focus on their institutions. The fellows are also introduced to Ashoka’s global network. This program is founded on the 25 year-old Venture model.

- Promote group entrepreneurship – assists collaboration between entrepreneurs on a global level, creating a synthesis of global commonalities of principles and identifying trends. The information is then globally disseminated and used as basis for further advancement in fields such as youth development.

- Build sector infrastructure – creating an infrastructure in collaboration with other sectors, particularly business, whose models provide critical lessons for citizen organizations. This infrastructure will support the growth and expansion of social entrepreneurship through many approaches including seed financing and capital and bridges to other sectors.

B: The Columbia University Partership for International Development

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cupid/

·         The Columbia University Partnership for International Development is a student-led effort across graduate schools at Columbia University to facilitate multidisciplinary dialogue, awareness, and action on international development. Designed to be experimental, CUPID aims to explore and demonstrate how a multidisciplinary approach to international development can produce innovative, holistic solutions for disadvantaged population creating long-term positive impact for students and communities alike.

The format of these projects is open-ended; it may involve sending a team for an extended stay on site in cooperation with an NGO, providing consulting services from here in New York, or some other cooperation. In all projects, CUPID aims to demonstrate how a multifaceted approach relying on diverse expertise produces superior results.

C: EWB-USA

http://www.ewbnewyork.com/

·         EWB-USA is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while involving and training internationally responsible engineers and engineering students.

The activities of EWB-USA range from the construction of sustainable systems that developing communities can own and operate without external assistance, to empowering such communities by enhancing local, technical, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills.

EWB-USA contributes to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through capacity building in community projects. Capacity building is defined in that context as “..the building (or strengthening) of human, institutional and infrastructure capacity to help societies develop secure, stable and sustainable economies, governments and other institutions through mentoring, training, education, physical projects, the infusion of financial and other resources, and most importantly, the motivation and inspiration of people to improve their lives” (Hatch, 2004).

D: freeDimensional

http://www.freedimensional.org/

·         freeDimensional organizes community arts space and local resources for the support and protection of individuals who create dialogue on global issues and inequalities through their art and media. The company’s vision is through the creation of local arts and media, awareness will be raised regarding the existence of available space that can also be used for a creative safe haven of creative individuals in need of assistance. By focusing on the work of thse individuals we are able to change the conditions that negatively impact vulnerable groups and society-at-large.

The freeDimensional network was born of the need for accommodation experienced by culture workers-in-distress. FD developed a system to partner residential artist communities with human rights and freedom of expression organizations in order to provide creative safe haven. The network provides support to art and media centers worldwide that seek to create a web of short-term safe havens for human rights defenders working at the intersection of arts and journalism.

Residential Artist Communities will benefit from this unique collaboration through enriched community, youth and environmental programs and by using their physical space to counter marginalizing issues at the local, regional and global levels.

E: UN.GIFT

http://www.ungift.org/

• UN.GIFT was conceived coordinate the global fight on human trafficking. UN.GIFT was launched in March 2007 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is managed in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

  UN.GIFT provides a framework for, and action by, all stakeholders – governments, business, academia, civil society and the media – and create effective tools to fight human trafficking.

  This global problem requires a global strategy that builds on national efforts throughout the world. To pave the way for this strategy, stakeholders must coordinate efforts already underway, increase knowledge, raise awareness and provide technical assistance; promote effective rights-based responses; utilize available resources and build capacity of state and non-state stakeholders; foster partnerships for joint action; and, above all, ensure everybody takes responsibility for this fight.

  By encouraging and facilitating cooperation and coordination, UN.GIFT aims to create synergies among the anti-trafficking activities of UN agencies, international organizations and other stakeholders to develop the most efficient and cost-effective tools and best practices.