3 fascinating facts about people doing good online
- Tue, November 29 2011
- Filed under: Social networking and web 2.0
Over the past few months, I’ve been blogging the results of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication study on cause engagement, which has been released in segments. The full study is now available and featured below.
Here are some of the most interesting findings:
1. Social media and ethnicity: Hispanics (39%) and African Americans (30%) say they prefer to engage with and learn about causes through social media, compared to 24% of Caucasians.
2. Women are the biggest believers in championing causes: Eight in ten American women strongly believe in the power of individuals to make a difference by supporting causes, while their male counterparts are more likely to view supporting causes as a fad. In addition, American women are more likely than men to believe that supporting causes creates a sense of purpose and meaning in life, makes them feel good about themselves and makes them feel like part of a community.
3. Slacktivism is underrated: Just because people are doing something easy on social media doesn’t mean that’s all they are doing. In fact, so-called slacktivists participate in more than twice as many activities as people who don’t engage in slacktivism. Plus, the activities that slacktivists choose to undertake have a higher potential to influence others.
Enjoy!
The study is based on an online survey conducted by TNS Global among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 Americans ages 18 and over. The survey was fielded November 30 to December 22, 2010, and has a margin of error of +/-2.2% at the 95% confidence level.
Comments
Very interesting study. I especially found the section on slacktivists intriguing. Slacktivists often get a bad reputation for being passive about volunteerism. However, as the presentation points out, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the data shows that slacktivists are twice as likely to volunteer than those who are not active on social media. The bottom line is that nonprofits should never overlook the potential of any volunteer. For some nonprofits, it may even be worthwhile to craft a recruitment campaign targeted directly at attracting this group.
Great post. Thanks for sharing!