The Social Network?: The Use and Efficacy of Facebook and Twitter for Nonprofit Reach and User Engagement

Abstract

The political application of social media, particularly social networking sites, has drawn a lot of recent popular and scholarly attention. While scholars have focused on the applications of these media to campaigns, less research has focused on the use of social media by organized groups to mobilize people and resources. Recently there has been a lot of growth in the literature studying how nonprofit groups use social media. Yet, little is known about how groups employ these media to meet organization or advocacy goals. This study seeks to add to the literature on nonprofits and the literature on political application of social media. Focusing on Facebook and Twitter, the two largest social networking sties, this study uses data gathered from gun rights and gun control nonprofit groups to address the following three questions: (1) do nonprofits communicate on Facebook and Twitter in the same way?; (2) how do organizational factors and social media use affect nonprofit groups online reach?; and (3) how does nonprofit social media use affect follower engagement? The findings of this study suggest that platform matters for both nonprofit groups and their stakeholders. Nonprofit groups communicate differently on Facebook and Twitter both in terms of what they say and how they say it. Additionally, this study finds that the impact of organizational factors and nonprofit group social media use differs between these two platforms. Finally, this study finds that users respond differently to group communications on Facebook and Twitter. This study contributes to the scholarly understanding of how nonprofit groups use social media.