Social Media for Social Good: An analysis of autism awareness organizations' use of Facebook (2013)

Undergraduate: Katheryn McKee

Faculty Advisor: Lois Boynton
Department: Journalism & Mass Communication

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Effective strategic communication is essential for all nonprofit advocacy organizations seeking social and political change. In order to raise awareness on a particular issue with the general public, policy makers and interested stakeholders, organizational leaders must create campaigns that promote participation, education and action. Public relations practitioners have become increasingly interested in online technologies in these public relations campaigns since the proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies, such as social networking sites, that promote community building and interactions.
Online social networking sites present an easily accessible means for organizations to coordinate initiatives, exchange information and support with people, and engage a broad demographic. Currently, the most popular social networking site is Facebook. Although a significant body of literature has examined Facebook use by teenagers and college students, it is important to understand how other populations, such as nonprofit organizations, are using this medium. Therefore, this research seeks to fill the void in SNS research by investigating how autism awareness organizations use Facebook in their advocacy efforts and by assessing the effectiveness of these organizations' campaigns by exploring how they are using Facebook to engage stakeholders in relation to the principles of Grunig's excellence theory of public relations.