Facebook as a communication tool for community organizations

Small community organizations such as parent committees, book clubs, sports associations, or service groups struggle to communicate effectively with their members and the communities around them.

• Limited resources make newspapers or other forms of print marketing cost-restrictive.
• Telephone communication can be cumbersome and time consuming.
• Meetings can be poorly attended or ineffective.

The emergence of social media as a means of communication has implications beyond personal socialization or business networking; now it can be considered a valid tool for community groups. Facebook should be an obvious choice for an organization seeking the benefits of social networking.

Individually, Facebook members will likely have members of their local communities on their friend lists, the audience (or a portion of it) is already accessible without any legwork; Your organization now has a targeted and immediately available audience built right out of the box. New members can easily sign up for Facebook and become part of a rapidly reproducing network.

There are several ways a message can be shared, two of which are: status updates posted and viewed by friends from personal Pages, and through the use of Facebook Pages (formerly Groups). A Page has built-in messaging systems via wall posts and a discussion area, plus posting capabilities via status updates broadcast to all Fans (thought group members) and private messages sent to the tray input of each Fan. With the click of a button, admins can send an update to Fans.

Becoming a Fan is easy; one simply follows a link that the page administrators have sent out as an invitation. Alternatively, people can search for a page and become a member by browsing to the website. Other useful features of a Facebook page:

• Events can be posted to a shared calendar
• Documents can be uploaded for universal group use
• External links and photos can be shared.

Community organizations fight to get their message heard, either among their members or within the community. Social networking sites, such as Facebook, offer organizations the opportunity to provide universally accessible, clear and dynamic information about events, meetings, fundraising initiatives and other group information. The possibilities are virtually endless!