Social Media and Social Service: Are Nonprofits Plugged In to the Digital Age?

Abstract

Social media has become ubiquitous in everyday life as well as a part of many organizational cultures and communications plans. However, in the nonprofit sector, in which technology adaption has historically been slower than the corporate sector, social media use is less pervasive. This qualitative study used a Template Analysis approach to explore social media use across a sample of nonprofit human service organizations. Twenty senior leaders participated in interviews, focusing on how their organization used social media, the effects of using electronic communications tools, and the enhancers and barriers to social media use. Four themes emerged from the analysis of the interview data: social media supports, resources, obstacles, and experiential. In addition to those themes, a classification system emerged based on Brandtzaeg’s media user typology. The author discusses practice implications and considers directions for future research.

Keywords:

• communications
• organizational development
• qualitative
• social media
• technology adaptation