Friends of mine that are with a Swiss based NGO (Medair) are currently working in the Democratic Republic of Kongo. They keep contact with their friends via a blog. This motivated me to search the web for information on how online social networks affect the work (or organizational success) of NGOs.
One interesting web site on that topic was the one from Jayne Cravens and Coyote Communications.
URL: http://www.coyotecommunications.com/tips2.html
The author, Jayne Cravens has supported NGOs/NPOs (like the UNDP) as an advisor. She considers herself to be an internationally-recognized expert regarding online communities and online outreach, which might or might not be true. Nevertheless, she worked on a few interesting SN projects (e.g. Aid Workers Network, United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV)).
On her web site you find the an article on Nonprofit Organizations and Online Social Networking (OSN): Advice and Commentary
This article deals with the question whether there is a value for non-profit organizations to engage in OSN platforms.
You can also find a few links to value-oriented networks (change.org, ned.com).
Another article with the title NetSquared and the New Wave of Online Volunteering points out how small non-profit organizations with very little staff are doing extraordinary things with online volunteers.
Last but not least I would like to point you to the article through which I found Jayne Cravens web site and that gives an example how a NPO uses Online Social Networking.
Using Social Networking to Stop Genocide by Ivan Boothe
This Genocide Intervention Network transformed from a small student group to a national non-profit by using social media sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Flickr, and YouTube to reach the young people who are their core supporters.
URL: http://www.idealware.org/articles/social_networking_genocide.php
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Hi,
I thought you'd like to know that there's a more recent version of this article on Slideshare, in presentation format: Using Social Networks for Social Change: Facebook, MySpace and More. Thanks for your interest!
--Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org
Nothing demonstrates the immediacy of a blog better than having the author of a cited article respond to your post! There is an increasing interest from NGOs on how to use social networking to increase their reach and efficiency. You might consider how a sustainable business model could emerge...
Thanks so much for the mentions of my web site!
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