My presentation at American Society for Public Administration's 2012 annual conference, Las Vegas, NV.

1. Nonprofits
and
Social Media:
Applying SROI to
New Technologies
Georgette Dumont, Ph.D.

2. NPOs and SROI
• SROI’s main goal is to measure value creation, which is
processed simultaneously in three ways along a
continuum, ranging from purely economic, to socio-
economic, to social
• Attempts to combine economic and social measures
• Way to quantify NPO effectiveness
o Funding
o Legitimacy
o Policy player

3. Research Questions
• Question 1: Do nonprofit leaders see a relationship
between social media and SROI?
• Question 2: What is the role of social media in obtaining
outcome measures?

4. Data Collection
• Snowball Sampling of Twitter and Facebook
• Sample
o 464 accounts, 348 nonprofits
o E-Survey – sent to 258 nonprofits
• 22 no email
• 48 no phone
• 20 bounced
• Responses: 111 (43%)
o Interviews (N=10) --- sample for this study

5. The Sample…

6. Time on
FB
Time on
TW
Use Strategy
TW/FB
linked
Comm Flow Effect
A&C 1 >2yrs 1-2yrs inform Attract business no
2-way
asymmetrical
Cost effective
marketing;
immediate
A&C 2 1-2yrs 6mo-1yr engage
Attract business;
reach youth
demographic;
build
community
no
2-way
symmetrical
Cost effective
marketing; ;
immediate;
customer service
HS 1 1-2yrs 6mo-1yr inform
Attract business;
reach youth
demographic
no
2-way
asymmetrical
Cost effective
marketing; ;
immediate;
donations
HS 2 >2yrs >2yrs engage
Attract business;
monitor
environment;
build
community
no
2-way
symmetrical
Cost effective
marketing; ;
immediate;
advocacy;
broadened
governance
SB 1 1-2yrs 6mo-1yr inform
Attract business;
reach youth
demographic
yes
2-way
symmetrical
Cost effective
marketing;
immediate

7. Time on
FB
Time on
TW
Use Strategy
TW/FB
linked
Comm Flow Effect
SB 2 1-2yrs 1-2yrs engage
Attract business;
reach youth
demographic
yes
2-way
symmetrical
Cost effective
marketing;
branding; ;
immediate
E/A 1 >2yrs 1-2yrs inform
Attract business/
donations
yes
1-way
symmetrical
Cost effective
marketing;;
immediate
E/A 2 >2yrs 1-2yrs inform
Attract business;
reach youth
demographic
no
2-way
asymmetrical
Cost effective
marketing;
immediate
Non 501
(c)(3)1
>2yrs >2yrs inform
Attract business;
draw people to
area
no
2-way
symmetrical
Cost effective
marketing;
immediate
Non
501(c)
(3)2
>2yrs 1-2yrs inform
Attract business;
reach youth
demographic;
build
community
no
2-way
symmetrical
Cost effective
marketing;
immediate;
intimate;
Advocacy;
branding

8. Do nonprofit leaders see a
relationship between social
media and SROI?

10. What is the role of social
media in obtaining
outcome measures?
Tell story; still nothing

11. What is the purpose of
social media for your
organization?
How do you use the
feedback?

13. Social Media
ConceptualizationFacebook
Twitter
Dynamism
Depth
FeedbackMessage

14. Conclusion
• SROI terminology not widely understood
• Social media still viewed mainly as push medium
• Social media is rarely thought of as a metric tool for
outcomes
• Nonprofits closer to “joined up” usage have a fuller
conceptualize of the “cross-fertilization of Internet
technologies
• SROI is a theory far ahead of practice