The role of social media in nonprofit environmental organizations: An analysis of impact and use
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Date
2015-10
Authors
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Journal Title
Series/Report No.
Master of Natural Resources Professional Papers (North Carolina State University. College of Natural Resources)
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
North Carolina State University. College of Natural Resources
Abstract
Smith, Katherine. Masters of Natural Resources. The Role of Social Media In Nonprofit
Environmental Organizations: An Analysis of Impact and Use
With social media becoming a main communication tool, environmental nonprofits are
using social media platforms as a main way of communicating with the public and their
audience. This paper analyzes, measures and compares the social media engagement of six
different North Carolina environmental nonprofit organizations. Tweets and Facebook posts
were collected from each organization over a specific time period and analyzed and measured
for engagement levels based on values of likes, shares, etc. As part of the study, I also analyzed
the type of content the organizations were sharing in regards to subject matter, categories, and
possible motivations. This study found that all of the organizations were consistent at posting to
both platforms on a regular basis. However, the organizations differed in the type of content in
relation to subject matter, motivation, and category. Additionally, organizations that included an
image in their post had higher rates of engagement then just text alone. Nonprofit organizations
need to be strategic in the type of content that they share, adding images and other types of
multimedia will likely result in higher levels of engagement.
Description
Keywords
social media, nonprofit, environmental nonprofit, Facebook, Twitter
