Social media and community volunteering

This seed project aimed to explore to what extent the transformative potentials of digital technologies, in particular social media, are being realised in relation to community volunteering. The project was funded by the Communities and Culture Network+ and Canterbury and Herne Bay Volunteer Centre was a project partner. The research explored how small non-profit organisations in the case study area of Canterbury district used social media for volunteering as well as how they have adopted the tools in general. The project also examined how audiences interpreted social media content about community volunteering. The following findings emerged from the study:
• Resources, knowledge and perceived limitations are key factors that influence how and to what extent small non-profit organisations adopt social media;
• Volunteering is not a key reason for using social media in small non-profit organisations, and if it is used for that purpose it is mainly seen as a recruitment tool;
• Small non-profit organisations value social media for certain opportunities but they also see it as a source of additional pressure;
• Audiences frame social media content about volunteering as advertisements.
The research contributes to debates on the transformative potentials of social media especially in the context of community engagement and the non-profit sector. It also raises questions about how austerity measures and funding cuts in the third sector shape the adoption of social media in small NPOs.