Uses of Social Networking Tools by Nonprofit Organizations by Catherine Reynolds — 15 Friends Who Give: Relationship-Building and Other Uses of Social Networking Tools by Nonprofit Organizations

Social networking is now the most popular activity on the Web (Qualman, 2009), with Facebook alone now having member numbers in excess of 500 million (Facebook, 2009). Social networking represents a major opportunity for corporations and nonprofit organizations to gain access to massive audiences with a medium that is essentially free and user-friendly. This research focused on how nonprofit organizations are currently using social networking tools, with a particular interest in how they use social networking as a relationship-building tool to create and maintain relationships and communication with volunteers, donors and other interested parties.