May 21st, 2010 by admin

Gaurav Mishra, CEO of 2020 Social, recently expressed his views on how Indian nonprofits can make the best use of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to promote their causes.

Since sites such as Twitter and Facebook are free platforms for generating mass interests at almost negligible costs, nonprofits can benefit in more than just a way by opting for them.

From Livemint.com:

On Tuesday, participants at a workshop on social media for nonprofits, organized by the Nasscom Foundation and held by Gaurav Mishra, CEO of Mumbai based social media research and strategy company 2020 Social, voiced some of their doubts.

“What if I run a contest on my website and nobody participates?” asked one lady who works for an international nonprofit that uses media and communications to achieve development goals. “How do I know if our fans on Facebook are actually engaged, or whether they’re just there for the heck of it?” asked another participant who works for an international artist’s association.

In an interview with Mint, Gaurav Mishra puts things in perspective, bluntly pointing out that social media is no panacea for a struggling nonprofit’s communications problems. He underscores that the very first step for a nonprofit is to identify the cause it is working towards, and consequently who its evangelists are. Social media can then be used to organize and energize this base of people.

“Nonprofits must start outside in and not inside out,” he says. “Always start by thinking about who are the people whose lives you’re trying to change, what is the big cause you’ve committed yourself to. Start from there and then come down to the specifics.”

Mishra pointed to Pratham Books as an instance of an Indian nonprofit that has been exemplary in using social media by sharing content and engaging communities via tools such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

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