This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference drew standing-room only crowds to sessions on social media. But one question remained unanswered after hours of talk: Can Twitter and Facebook perform miracles for hardworking child advocates?

That’s dubious, based on the evidence.

Take the area of fundraising. “Very, very little money is raised through social networking sites,” says Mal Warwick, chairman of Mal Warwick Associates, an agency serving nonprofits.

His view is confirmed by research from the software vendor Blackbaud. Of the nonprofit groups with positive return on investment online, 63 percent use e-mail and 46 percent use social media. “Everything we’ve seen shows that e-mail has more proven value than social media,” says Allison Van Diest, senior product marketing manager for Blackbaud.

Nor are the social networks good for interaction with colleagues. Advocates typically use Facebook and Twitter “to communicate with a few of their friends, but not professionally,” Warwick says. And government employees, though part of many nonprofit constituencies, often lack “access to current technology or are limited by policy,” adds Nedra Kline-Weinreich, president of Weinreich Communications, an agency and consultancy.

Next is the issue of resources. Do your overworked staffers have the time to be tweeting people? And even if they do, can they write in the more personal tone required in social media?

The Positive Side

But let’s be fair—these new tools do have their uses. First, they can help you reach members who dislike e-mail or are attracted to the novelty of social media.

“Everyone has a Facebook page,” says Jason Zanon, director of outreach and development for Democracy in Action, a nonprofit group that runs an online hosted database for nonprofits. “They’re easy to create, and you can push out messages to people. And there’s some interesting sociology—it’s about branding yourself so you can say, ‘I’m a supporter.’” 

Twitter, meanwhile, is good for what Zanon calls gentle recruitment.
“You can meet people in a serendipitous way,” he says. And he may be right: Twitter grew by 1,382% in a year year, according to a recent study by Nielson.
(Why focus on Facebook and Twitter? Because they’re the most popular in the nonprofit field. In contrast, “MySpace is so 2007,” Zanon says).

Controlling the Dialogue

Even better, the social networks can help you control the dialogue about your cause. “Social media lets you see what people are saying, and react quickly and effectively,” Weinreich says. “For example, you can monitor for the term ‘child abuse.’ If something is talked about on a blog, you can respond and address whatever their concern is. And if they’re spreading misinformation, you can correct that quickly.”

Here’s one more thing that can be said in favor of Facebook and Twitter: They’re risk-free, compared with the more expensive activity of texting to mobile phones.

Keep a Scorecard

Bruce S. Trachtenberg, executive director of the Communications Network, urges caution when it comes to social networks. The Nielsen study cited above also states that 60 percent of all Twitter users fall off after the first month. And that brings to mind two critical points: 

1. Social media should never be used in isolation.  First, “you need a strong Web site,” Warwick says. “Build an e-mail list by offering a free newsletter or action alerts or a combination of those. And reach out through social networking sites for the missing demographic groups on your list.”

2. Set goals and keep a scorecard.  “You have to establish some set of measures,” Trachtenberg urges. “What do you want to accomplish? It’s all interesting, but if you’re not accomplishing something, it doesn’t mean anything.”

We agree. Social networks can be fun. But that’s no reason to use them for the serious business of child advocacy.

Do you disagree? Please share your arguments—and stories—with us.

Child Advocacy 360 blogger Ray Schultz has edited several marketing publications, including Direct, DM News, Promo, Chief Marketer and Circulation Management. He has also written for the New York Times Sunday Magazine and other publications.