Social Media & Grantmaking Part X: Online Social Networks
At the beginning of July when I first started this blog series I had no idea that I would be writing at least 10 posts. I do feel like we’re in the home stretch a bit…or at least the halfway point (I sure hope so).
But before we dive into the topic of social networks, let’s take a moment to celebrate this 10th blog post on Social Media & Grantmaking. Here’s what popped into my head the minute I began reflecting on the number 10:
Online Social Networks: What The Big Deal?
I’ll be honest, when I first started receiving invitations from friends to join Facebook I hit the “ignore” button plenty of times.
I became a convert. Especially when I saw how useful a social networking site could be for connecting with peers and colleagues, re-connecting with old acquaintances and meeting new collaborators.
But I think the real “big deal” is that social networking has changed how people stay in touch with one another, how we communicate. Facebook has over 400 million users and LinkedIn has more than 70 million professionals using their network service.
Who are all these people?
They’re grantees and individuals in the communities who benefit from the work of foundations. They’re current (and future) trustees and donors. They’re colleagues and peers from other foundations. They’re advocates for the issues grantmakers care about. And they’re policymakers whose constituents directly benefit from the work of foundations.
Well, What Is It?
Here’s a description of a social network from Wikipedia.
“A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging.”
Say Again?
Let’s break it down a bit, shall we?
“A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services.”
So a social network service like Facebook or LinkedIn allows an individual to create a personal account, or profile that appears as a web page online.
Your profile has information personal to you. And it can be as informal (as Facebook tends to be) or professional (as LinkedIn tends to be) as you want.
Once you create a profile you can connect to people you know, those are your “social links.” And often you may find yourself linking with someone you don’t know.
Why would you do that?
Say for example Grantmaker A receives an invitation from Grantmaker B, a former co-worker. Grantmaker A accepts the link because they actually know Grantmaker B.
Then Grantmaker C, a current coworker of Grantmaker B decides to link to Grantmaker A. Why? Because both Grantmakers A and C work on children’s healthcare.
Naturally Grantmaker A is excited to make a connection with another funder who does similar work and accepts the invitation to link.
As you can see a person’s network has many tiers of social links:
- people you know on a personal level;
- people who you know through another person; and
- even people you connect with because of a similar interest.
And it’s in this way that:
“A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities.”
Phew. And what about the last bit of that definition:
“Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging.”
And don’t forget “a variety of additional services.”
On second thought, I think I’ll save the different features of both Facebook and LinkedIn (the two social networking sites I’m familiar with) for another blog post (or two).
Foundations on Social Networks
Here’s a list of NCG members who have Facebook and LinkedIn accounts:
* The East Bay Community Foundation (LinkedIn) And if you’re thinking you have to be a large foundation with communications staff to handle these types of online presences, take a look at the list Glasspockets provides of foundations using social media. The total assets range from $29,889,702,125 to $2,148. Imagine what an online presence provides those foundations with smaller assets and staff: I bet they’d say this social networking thing is a pretty big deal. The Social Media & Grantmaking blog post series will cover a wide range of topics. Check out the introduction post outlining the series. To see all the posts in this series, simply type “social media series” into the search box located upper right of this web page. Tags: East Bay Community Foundation, Facebook, Glasspockets, grantmakers, hewlett, LinkedIn, Marin Community Foundation, packard, philanthropy, Quixote Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Fou, social media, social media series, social networks, Technology, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
* The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Facebook)
* Marin Community Foundation (LinkedIn)
* The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Facebook)
* Quixote Foundation (Facebook)
* Silicon Valley Community Foundation (Facebook)