From adapting to adoption: Social Media Use by Small-to-medium- sized Human Service Nonprofits

Abstract

This exploratory research focuses on small-to-medium-sized nonprofit organizations’ social media use. In-depth interviews with nonprofit leaders helped to understand their perceptions of social media in order to explain why nonprofit organizations and their leaders decide to adopt and use social media, the strategies developed for doing so, and the barriers encountered in the adoption/utilization processes. It finds that most of the leaders of small-to-medium sized organizations see social media as a supplementary way for organizational activities, with limited visions of how to use social media to engage with the constituencies and to advance their organizational goals.