Using Social Media to Network with Other Advocates and Promote Your Work

Using Social Media to Network with Other Advocates and Promote Your Work

Matthew BurnettImmigration Advocates Network CoordinatorPro Bono Net

Kate BladowLawHelp Interactive CoordinatorPro Bono Net

Outline

• Overview

• Social Networking for Advocates

• Social Networking for Organizations

• Getting Started

• Examples from the Field

• Common Concerns

• Resources

• Questions

• Web-based services that allow individuals to– Construct a public or semi-public profile within

a bounded system; – Articulate a list of other users with whom they

share a connection; and– View and traverse their list of connections and

those made by others within the system.

(boyd & Ellison, Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship)

What is a Social Network Site?

• General Sites – Open to the public and have millions of users– Examples: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

• Niche Sites – Sites developed around a specific interest or profession– Examples: Martindale-Hubble Connected, ABA

LegallyMinded

• Social Media Sites – Sites designed to host social media that incorporate social networking features– Examples: YouTube (video), Flickr (photos)

Types of Social Network Sites

Which social media sites do you currently use?

Poll

Facebook• Over 300M active users (equivalent to U.S. pop.)• 50% of active users login daily• Less than 1/3 are college students• People over 35 represent the fastest growing age group• More than 10M users become fans of Pages each day• More than 2B pieces of content (web links, news stories,

blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week • More than 6B minutes are spent on Facebook each day

(worldwide)

Major Social Networking Sites

LinkedIn• Focus on professional networking

• Average age of user is 41

• 95% of users are college educated

• 64% of users are male

• 53% of users have a household income of over 100K


Twitter• Twitter is the 3rd most used social network• Unique visitors increased from 1.2M in

May 2008 to 18.2M in May 2009• 93% of Twitter users have less than 100

followers, just over 1% have more than 500 followers and less than 1% have more than 1,000 followers

• Only 40% of Twitter’s users are retained


• Engage supporters• Recruit volunteers and law students• Professional development/networking• Keep track of issues in the field• Learn and share information about projects and

best practices• Fundraise• Listen to what others are saying about your

organization or issues that you care about

Why Network Online?

Social Networking for Advocates

• Adoption

• Benefits

• Professionalism/Ethics


Adoption:• Shriver Survey

– 30% of respondents reported using social networking sites

– Most popular sites were LinkedIn (17%) and Facebook (13%)

– 7% said that social networking sites were extremely useful, 35% said they were useful, and 26% said they were somewhat useful

– High correlation between age and social networking adoption (higher adoption among younger advocates)


Adoption (cont.):• ABA Survey

– 56% of respondents thought social networking was important

– 28% rated Facebook as helpful; 27% rated LinkedIn as helpful

– 61% of respondents said communicating with friends was most important; 34% rated networking with legal colleagues as most important


Adoption (cont.):

• LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Survey– 54% of respondents reported being a member

of a social networking site– 33% reported using social networking for only

personal use; 18% for only professional use; 49% for both personal and professional use

– Also high correlation between age and adoption


Adoption (cont.):• Pew Survey

– 35% of American adult internet users have a profile on a social networking site

• 22% on Facebook• 6% on LinkedIn

– 89% of respondents said they use social networks to stay in touch with friends; 43% said they use social networks to organize with others for an issue or event; 28% use social networks to promote themselves or their work

– Again, high correlation between age and adoption


Adoption (cont.):• Trends

– Social networking adoption is • higher among younger lawyers/adults• higher among legal professionals than online adult

population, but slightly lower among poverty law advocates

– Social networks are used more often for personal networking than professional networking


Benefits:• Professional Networking

– Keep track of what colleagues are working on– Reconnect with past colleagues– Connect with individuals who do similar work or share

the same interests• Collaboration

– LinkedIn Groups (Legal Aid Group)• Resource/Information Sharing

– Status updates on Facebook and Twitter– Specialty sites to share work product (i.e. JDSupra)


Professionalism/Ethics:

• Distinction between “personal” and “professional” can be difficult to navigate

• Remember basic attorney ethics rules around client confidentiality, attorney advertising, etc.

• Consult state bar regulations or bar counsel if you have concerns


Which social networking sites does your organization currently use?

Social Networking for Organizations


• Advocacy

• Fundraising

• Staffing, Budget and Policies


Advocacy • Nonprofit Social Network Survey

– 86% of respondents reported that their organization has a presence on some form of commercial social network

– Facebook is most popular (74%), followed by YouTube (46.5%), Twitter (43.2%), LinkedIn (32.9%) and MySpace (26.1%)

– 80.5% of respondents reported that their primary purpose for social networking is marketing (to promote their programs, services and overall brand)


Advocacy • In addition to marketing and outreach, poverty law

organizations should consider other uses, including: – Distributing know your rights and substantive legal information,

such as short case summaries and changes in the law for attorneys and the public;

– Recruiting volunteers, law students, and new attorneys; – Connecting volunteers and pro bono attorneys with one another

and with advocates to foster mentoring, substantive support, and training.

– Connecting with other advocates in an area of law to discuss emerging issues and identify systemic problems; and

– Highlighting issues affecting low-income communities and your organization’s work to protect their rights.


Fundraising• Some commercial social networking sites, such as

Facebook, have modules that allow organizations to collect donations

• Make sure to do some research before implementing them– Look at the number/amount of donations received by similar

organizations using social network sites for fundraising– Understand the potential impact on other fundraising initiatives– Speak with development professionals or fundraising

consultants with experience in online fundraising• Among nonprofits, Facebook is the most popular social

network site used to raise money, but success stories are few and far between


Staffing, Budget and Policies

• Staffing:– 80.8% of nonprofits surveyed dedicate at

least a quarter of a FT staff person to social networking initiatives

– Staffing model should be based on priorities, goals and projected impact

– Consider splitting time between program staff and marketing/communications/outreach staff


Staffing, Budget and Policies (cont.)• Budget:

– 40.6% of nonprofits surveyed said that they had some budget for external resources to support social networking

– While most commercial social networks are free to join, consider potential costs associated with marketing, design, development and consulting

– Developing your own social networking platform will cost significantly more than using existing commercial platforms


Staffing, Budget and Policies (cont.)• Policies:

– Create a system to keep track of organizational accounts (update when passwords are changed)

– Define the integration of social networking initiatives with other marketing and communications activities

– Understand that social networking is more distributed and less formal than traditional approaches (i.e. press releases)

– Revisit social networking policies often as you and your organization learn from your experiences

– Consider a policy for employees’ “unofficial” online activities that reflect on your organization


First Steps

• Listen.

• Set goals.

• Pick a site and set up your profile.

• Connect with a few friends or colleagues.

• Ask questions.

Getting Started

Listen

Listen

Set Goals

• Know what you hope to accomplish

• Target your activities to achieving goals

• Be open to unexpected benefits and possibilities

Pick a Site & Sign Up

Connect

Connect

Ask Questions

Network

Examples from the Field





Common Concerns

• Privacy

• Security

• Control

• Information Overload

Resources

• We Are Media Projecthttp://www.wearemedia.org/

• Beth’s Bloghttp://beth.typepad.com/

• Pew Internet Social Networkinghttp://bit.ly/8N28t

• Mind the Ethics of Online Networkinghttp://bit.ly/eQzV7

• Social Networking for Lawyershttp://bit.ly/9516nhttp://bit.ly/18ACpJ

Resources

• Look Who’s Talking: Legal Implications of Twitter Social Networking Technologyhttp://bit.ly/8xli8

• Drafting Trouble-Free Social Media Policieshttp://bit.ly/4qQVFa

• Examples of Social Networking Policies http://bit.ly/rGYR4

• LSNTAP Social Mediahttp://bit.ly/T61av

Resources

Technology Blogs• Real Lawyers Have Blogs

http://kevin.lexblog.com/

• Robert Ambrogi’s LawSiteshttp://www.legaline.com/lawsites.html

• CLEONet Consultationhttp://consult.cleonet.ca/CLEONET/

• Care2 Frogloophttp://www.frogloop.com/

• NTEN Bloghttp://nten.org/blog

• Idealwarehttp://www.idealware.org/blog/

http://kevin.lexblog.com/

http://www.frogloop.com/



http://nten.org/blog



http://www.idealware.org/blog/



Questions/Contact

Questions?

Contact info:Matthew [email protected] Kate [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Using Social Media to Network with Other Advocates and Promote Your Work