RealPolitech: Pursuit, possession and application of people power. Online and off.

A recent study conducted by NTEN, Common Knowledge, and ThePort, Non-Profit Social Network Survey, sheds light on the use by non-profits of social networking services and their success. Not surprisingly, it finds that many non-profits are not translating their SNS membership into dollars or action.

Non-profits tend to play the numbers game, and with social media, nothing has changed. Counting your numbers on a Facebook group proves nothing for many organizations. Some organizations find themselves at a plateau after reaching a certain number of members and, inevitably, they start pointing fingers at their communications and online team.

The measure of an organization is not the amount of members to a Facebook group or Twitter followers. It is not the number of people on your email list. It is the quality of interaction an organization has with its community and how relationships with individual members or allies are formed.

It comes back to basic principles of human interaction, forming weak ties versus strong ties with individuals. Just like shaking someone’s hand, engaging in a brief conversation, or having some other one-on-one interaction is much more likely to result in a permanent and fruitful connection after being at an event, the same applies to social networks. Social networks are a give and take relationship. You have to add value to the lives of your members, direct them to resources, and get them excited. Offline organizing principles cannot be forgotten in the digital age.

Numbers matter in some instances, but only if you can drive your “numbers” to action. A smaller group that donates often and participates continuously is much more effective and useful to an organization then thousands of people on a Facebook group who never respond.

If your organization is still hell bent on the numbers thing, at least ask one question: “To what end?”