In 2009 many nonprofits opted not to invest in building social communities on their main website (ie "house" networks), electing instead to harness the point and click ease of establishing commercial networks: a Facebook Fan Page, a Twitter account, a Ning network. NTEN’s latest Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report tells the story:

Facebook is still used by more nonprofits than any other commercial social network with 86% of nonprofits indicating that they have a presence on this network… Twitter grew to 60%. Overall, the number of nonprofits with one or more house social networks has decreased... to 22.2%.

Facebook: 86% usage. Twitter: 60%. House networks: 22%. The survey surmises that a high initial investment is to blame for the drop in usage, given the state of the economy.

It also makes another important statement, however: organizations that do have at least one house social network see its value.

My belief is that as the economy recovers and nonprofits bring more of what they do online, house social networks will offer a strong value proposition worthy of investment.

If your organization is in the process of making decisions about where to invest time and money regarding establishing interactive groups, bringing your offline programs into online workflows, and making your engagement processes more efficient from end to end, here are some questions to consider:

  • Do you need the people in your network to DO something, not just connect to each other?
  • Do your programs require very granular control over privacy and user permissions?
  • Do your programs have more complex hierarchies for group interaction and workflows?
  • Do you need to position your social network as independent of others for branding purposes?
  • Does your network need to exist on the web and mobile devices?

If you answer yes to many of the questions above, you are in a sense making a case for investing in social media beyond the realm of the Facebooks of the world. What are the next steps?

  • Gauge your organization’s budget and commitment to using technology in deeper ways.
  • Cull a list of features, requirements, and constraints your house social network would need to account for
  • Find a go-to technology partner who is hip to social networking trends to help you work through questions, analyze your wishlist, and help craft a roadmap that makes sense (contact us!).

Commercial social networks like Facebook and Twitter are must-haves for most nonprofits in today’s web of relational engagement. However, there are often very good reasons to use momentum from those networks to engage your audience in even deeper ways through house social networks.