Group items tagged

The nonprofit social media decision guide. http://www.idealware.org/reports/nonprofit-social-media-decision-guide While this document is not specifically about social media policies, it tackles issues some of the decisions that need to be made when creating a policy, such as defining goals, audience and strategy. Its comprehensive guide to specific social media tools provides practical advice on strengths and weaknesses, resources, required and links to guides on usage. Its focus on nonprofit organisations makes it a valuable tool for public libraries looking at developing a social media strategy. It was updated by Idealware in 2013.

Nonprofit social media policy workbook http://idealware.org/articles/creating-social-media-policy This practical workbook created for Idealware in 2012, is designed to take an organisation through the process of actually writing a social media policy. The worksheets guide the discussion by asking the important questions about social media that need to be addressed in an effective policy. The workbook relevant to all types of nonprofit organisations, including public libraries. A companion document Social media policy templates provides sample policy statements to assist with the actual formulation of policy text.

It's fabulous that resources like this exist and the organisations will share them. In a age of tight work time frames and even tighter budgets, it's helpful to not have to reinvent the wheel when your organisation has to take this step. It also means that more libraries are able to make policies and guidelines because they don't have to start from scratch. This has benefits for everyone - management - staff and clients.

I was happy to find a relevant and recent article advocating the use ofcial media for voluntary organisations. Abstract: There is potential for nonprofit organizations to increase effectiveness by mobilizing social media to help achieve goals. However, the sector is only just becoming aware of the possibilities for social media and lags behind other sectors in its use. We report a New Zealand initiative to enhance the capability of nonprofit organizations through action research that has implications for nonprofit organizations elsewhere. Borrowing from resource mobilization theory, we introduce the concept of resource mobilization chains to explain the requirements for and obstacles to taking advantage of social media. A survey and two in-depth case studies found that nonprofit organizations demonstrated extremely limited familiarity with and use of social media. Participants were enthusiastic about the potential of mobilizing social media to achieve organizational goals, but struggled to take concrete steps to implement their aspirations. Lack of resources was a key obstacle identified in both survey and case study research

Useful article for assessment item 2.

This is another case study that looks at why nonprofit organisations may utilise social media and how they may build a social media policy. In the resulting research, the study outlines how NPOs view social media, what they use it for (i.e. marketing, awareness, etc.) and the barriers it presents. Also, it examines how social media can be used as not only a means of communication, but also as a means to interact with stakeholders in a deeper conversation.