Pros and Cons of Social Media

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of communication and marketing will improve drastically. Higher quality content will appeal to a larger number of people and significantly improve people’s impression and, thus, the branding of our organization. This will have a positive effect in spreading the awareness of, as well as advancing, key issues and our organization’s mission and activities. This effect will, in turn, help bring up donations to our target level needed for our organization’s expansion to the Bronx and Queens.

In addition, the media team can play a leading role in bringing different teams within our organization closer together. The nature of the work requires close cooperation between and among teams – those that carry out the activities and the media team that presents those activities and accomplishments to others. Increased communication and collaboration between teams will create more potential for innovative projects and cultivate a sense of community that will further motivate the staff. Although on a smaller scale, this was the case at the United Nations Global Compact Network Korea, where I worked as an intern this summer. The organization successfully showcased their collaborative work culture and all-embracing mission to the business community and the public through social media, imbuing the idea that every business and individual is part of a collective effort to create a more sustainable future. This is consistent with our organization’s mission to build closer, stronger communities in New York.

B. Challenges: The biggest challenge is cost. Creating a new media team is beneficial in the long-run, but it will take a few months for the team to be assembled together, come up with a plan, work out an efficient work arrangement, target an audience, and produce meaningful impact. The process also requires finding an office space and hiring a social media marketer, a designer, and an intermediary or manager. A consulting fee would also be included if we hire a consultant. As the workload of the team increases, we may need to hire more people and increase office space. Whether these investments will produce a positive return depends on how quickly and inexpensively these challenges are addressed.

C. Solution: Since social media operates online, it allows people to work outside the office, or virtually anywhere with internet connection. A physical office space is not necessary, although it is preferred. In its initial phase, the media team can consist of part-time employees who work at home. The Development Team can administer the media team’s work until they reach a point that necessitates the formation of an independent media team. Moreover, the media team can also hire interns to lighten individual workloads. Interns will not only be able to gain experience in practical communications and marketing skills, but also take part in our organization’s public benefit work and become cognizant of the nonprofit sector in general. The cost of creating, operating, and managing a new media team can be minimized by capitalizing on these advantages of social media.

3. Reassess the nature of public benefit work. Verify what can and cannot can be shared on social media by asking the following questions:

Does the content reveal any private information that could negatively affect the individual or individuals receiving social service?

How does the content influence and shape society’s perception toward a certain group of people?

To put it simply, what direct, or even secondary, impact will the message have on different people and on society? It is extremely important to consider the appropriateness of the types of information shared on social media, which tends to be ignored or taken lightly due to the fleeting nature of communication on social media. Many public benefit nonprofits feel reluctant to use social media, because certain types of information they present on social media could harm or affect certain individuals and groups in unintentional, and often undesirable, ways.5 Although the very same information could turn out to be effective in raising awareness of an issue and lead to favorable policy changes, the magnitude of impact and the way society reacts to certain issue or change could lead to unforeseen consequences. This greatly limits the types of information that can be shared to the public. Nevertheless, with careful planning and framing of issues, we can effectually use social media to our organization’s advantage.

Employing social media will bring fundamental changes to our organization. Given our organization’s current effort to expand its presence in the Queens and the Bronx, relevant stakeholders may feel reluctant to direct any resources to this new and risky initiative until they can be certain of its success. The three considerations examined in this memorandum, however, reveals more benefits of social media than its challenges and the costs, which we can overcome through careful planning. Social media can be used as a supplemental communication and marketing channel with the initial objective of purely disseminating controlled information, and be administered by the Development Team until its potential and value can be proven. It is possible to extend our organization’s social media presence and engagement in incremental steps, as each of the objectives are met. Effective use of social media could help our organization advance key issues and our mission in more creative