Uncovering the Social Media use of Sustainability Activists
with Reformative and Radical Traits
Master of Science in Business Administration Strategy & Innovation
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Abstract
This research set out to discover differences in the use of social media between sustainability activist groups. A case study was designed around two groups of activist each consisting of two organizations, one group of activist with traditionally reformative roots and one group of activist with traditionally radical roots. A model was used to uncover reformative and radical activist traits within these groups. These traits were then compared with their respective social media use. The findings of the study indicate that there are no discernible differences in social media use between traditionally reformative and traditionally radical sustainability activist groups. We could argue that this results in new tactics for traditionally radical groups to get more involvement from their constituency base, a choice that
according to the model of De Bakker and Den Hond might not seem so straightforward. There are however noticeable similarities. Social media is seen as a gateway in the organization with possibilities to climb a so called participation ladder to get the people more and more involved. The most popular media are Facebook and Twitter. Differences have to do with the advancement of the social media strategy in the organization like the use of measuring systems and target audiences and not much with the ideological stance. For the future, organizations often see the possibilities of online funding
campaigns as the giving behavior of the public is changing, more to one time actions then the usual yearlong contributions. Also they see people really wanting to be part of the movement and want to enable everything to make all the best of use of these crowdsourcing possibilities.
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Contents
Abstract ...2 1. Introduction ...5 2. Theoretical Review ...7 2.1 Sustainability ... 7 2.2 Activism ... 10 2.3 Social Media ... 17 2.4 Research ... 20 3. Methodology ... 22 3.1 Qualitative research ... 22 3.2 Case study ... 22 3.3 Research questions ... 24 3.4 Data collection ... 24 3.5 Interview Questions ... 25 3.6 Data Analysis ... 25 4. Cases ... 27 4.1 Case Milieudefensie ... 274.2 Case Wereld Natuur Fonds ... 30
4.3 Case Greenpeace ... 34
4.4 Case Natuur en Milieu ... 39
5. Analysis & Discussion ... 44
5.1 Case Milieudefensie ... 44
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5.3 Case Greenpeace ... 48
5.4 Case Natuur & Milieu ... 50
5.5 Discussion ... 51
5.5.1 Discussion Sustainability ... 51
5.5.2 Discussion Activist Traits ... 52
5.5.3 Discussion Social Media ... 53
6. Conclusion ... 56
6.1 Limitations ... 57
6.2 Implications ... 57
References ... 59
Appendix 1: Table Shell ... 63
Appendix 2: Interview Protocol ... 67
Appendix 3: Transcribed Interviews ... 69
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1.
Introduction
Sustainability is getting a lot of attention in shops, products, marketing and media. As now we can buy meat products in varying degrees of animal friendliness rated with stars, biological milk with lots of different flavors, honest bananas and tea, but also cars that can drive one hundred kilometers on five liters of fuel. All these products would probably not have seen the light if the concept of sustainability would not have been introduced. Mainstream recognition came in 1987 with the United Nations (U.N.) Brundtland commission (named after its chair) influential definition on the subject. It read that:
“Sustainable development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same”. Not only governments and government entities cared for this subject but citizens as well. Organizations were formed to be active in this movement. For example, Greenpeace is a well-known organization that formed in the seventies to let the world know what was going on with nuclear testing sites. Over the years activist gained a respectable place in society to uncover matters that were thought to be unjust. The academic world studied these activists as well, and thanks to research like Vaughn Switzer’ Environmental activism – a reference handbook (2003), and De Bakker and Den Hond’s (2007) research on radical and reformative activist tactics, we can differentiate groups. More activist groups sprouted as well and soon every aspect of sustainability was fought for by varying groups and their actions seen in the papers and news channels. Recently forms of media other than papers and news channels are gaining popularity. Making use of the internet and the power of the crowd, social media as they are known, have seen an astonishing growth over the past years. Websites like Facebook and Twitter are reaching more then five hundred million people. They enable groups of friends to communicate and interact with each other (SAS Whitepaper). Not only individuals have expressed their interest in social media, companies and other professional organizations are also looking in what social media can mean for them. As social media is quite a new phenomenon, the research on social media is quite scarce. There are a couple of books out on the subject of social media, like “The social media bible” (Safko & Brake 2009) and Clapperton (2009) “This is social media – tweet, blog link and post your way to business success”, but they lack a scientific background. Scouring the literature on the subjects of sustainability, activism and social media, several gaps in the research were found. From the research of Langley et al (2010) we know that sustainability initiatives make use of social media. We also know that there are differences in traits between radical and reformative activist thanks to the model of De Bakker end Den Hond (2007). But what is not known yet, is the combination of these insights. For this research we are asking the question if activist groups that exhibit these different traits in activism also have different social media use
Our main research question can be described as follows:
“Are there differences in the use of social media between sustainability activist groups traditionally associated with reformative or traditionally radical traits?”
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“What constitutes sustainability?”
“What are differences between radical and reformative activists, and how can they be identified? “
“What are social media, what are the features, how are they used?”
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2.
Theoretical Review
In 1987 the United Nations (U.N.) Brundtland commission influential definition on the concept of sustainability triggered a global interest into this concept. “Sustainable development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same” the
definition read. Today the definition of sustainability covers a broader range with for example, branches catering for a better distribution of the wealth produced, the preservation of the natural world, and animal protection. Not only the concept of sustainability branched out. Now, not only supra national organizations such as the UN, the EU and governments are trying to influence sustainable behavior. Stakeholder groups like NGO’s and other organized groups such as activists are voicing their opinions on how to improve the current state of sustainability. The newly popularized communication of social media might be of benefit to activist organizations in raising their claim in these matters. This research aims to gain a greater understanding of the social media tactics NGO’s employ. Below the concepts of sustainability, activism and social media are linked together to end with a focused question to guide this research.
2.1 Sustainability
The Brundtland report definition on sustainable development is widely recognized as one of the most influential in discussions on sustainability as noted by Krehbiel et al (1999), Fricker (1998) and Howarth (2007). The report Our Common Future convened by the United Nations (UN) is mostly known by the name of the Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development, the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. In this report sustainable development was defined as:”
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (http://www.un-documents.net). The three pillars of sustainable development are; economic, environmental and the social aspect.
The Commission was established after recognizing that humanity had great success overall, with life expectancy increasing, global education levels rising, and food production rising faster than the growth of the population. But this success had a flipside as well. The same processes that had produced these gains had also given rise to trends that the planet and its inhabitant could no longer bear.
According to the Commission, sustainable development will rest on political will and it will pose problems for institutions; they will have to face common challenges. Directions for policies include population and human resources, food security in harvesting the potential, protecting species and ecosystems, energy choices for environment and development, industries need to produce more with less more and then massive challenge of coping with urbanization The report is focused on institutional and legal change and offers a rebuttal to the problems. Today, sustainability is still a concern of the UN and it is interwoven in one of the eight Millennium Development goals of the 2015 Millennium
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Although the sustainability definition of the 1987 Brundtland commission report is an influential one, there are more views on sustainability which can help further our insight of the subject.
Economic view
The economists’ view on sustainability focuses on the tradeoff of current consumption versus future consumption. Thomas Malthus, an influential economist that lived two hundred years ago, looked at a world where the population was growing exponentially, but where food production was increasing only linearly. That was a problem because this incompatibility was going to lead to famine and economic malaise. But the bleak future foreseen by Malthus did not come to pass as the industrial revolution enabled the world to produce more with less. There was a substitution of created capital (machines) for natural capital (labor and land). Whether created and natural capital are substitute or complementary goods is key to sustainability. In the neo classical view, increases in technology and man-made capital can make up for the current utilization of the natural capital. This view is also called to have weak
sustainability (Elliot 2005). D.W. Pearce and G.D. Atkinson (1993) presented a weak sustainability
indicator which they dubbed Z1. It incorporates the idea that the level of overall capital stock, natural and man-made, in a country should not be decreasing, when this is the case, an economy is sustainable. It is called a weak sustainability rule since it allows for unconstrained elasticity’s of substitution of natural and man-made capital. Strong sustainability on the other hand is, in essence, the insight that that there are a number of services of nature that cannot be replaced by man-made capitol or human labor (Ayres 2008). This is the ecological economist view, saying that we need at least some amount of natural capital to have a complete stock, which suggests that there should be no declines in natural capital, or at least not in critical types thereof.
In both the ecological economist view and neoclassical view lies the same basic foundation that we need to keep in mind the fairness of resource allocation over time (Elliot 2005, Illge and Schwarze 2009). This is also referred to as intergenerational equity, and can be found at the heart of all sustainability
definitions. There is also talk of intragenerational equity: a fair distribution of resources across the current generation (Elliot 2005).
Corporate Social Responsibility
The notion of fair is something that has been picked up by other groups as well. According to Mallin (p. 101, 2007) there has been a push from the religious groups, from the nineteen hundreds and onwards, to have an ethical consideration when it comes to investments. The term ethical investment is often used interchangeably with socially responsible investment (SRI). SRI involves considering ethical, social and environmental, as well as the financial performance of companies when looking for investments. Another term often seen in this respect is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),
CSR stand for “the social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal ethical and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time” and was
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Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) provided an early example. More recently the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has produced sustainability guidelines that centers around economic,
environmental and social performance or the aptly named triple bottom line (Solomon & Solomon 2004, p.195). The triple bottom line builds on the three pillars of sustainability of the Brundtland Commission sustainable development definition, namely; the environment, the economy and the social aspect. The FTSE4Good and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) are two well-known indices that
incorporate CSR and report on sustainability. According to the DJSI website (http://www.sustainability-index.com) “The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are a cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes and SAM. By bringing together the expertise of one of the leading index providers and the world-renowned pioneer in sustainability investing, the DJSI family rests on a strong foundation to meet the growing market demand for professional, objective and reliable sustainability benchmarks.”
The FTSE4Good describes itself as: “The FTSE4Good Index Series has been designed to measure the performance of companies that meet globally recognized corporate responsibility standards, and to facilitate investment in those companies. Transparent management and criteria alongside the FTSE brand make FTSE4Good the index of choice for the creation of Responsible Investment products.” (http://www.ftse.com)
In spite of efforts to provide these guidelines, there are however voices who claim CSR and triple bottom line reporting is no more than a public relations and marketing tool, and that the real
sustainability problems are far from addresses this way by companies who claim to do so, see, Norman and Macdonald (2004), Grey (2006). This process of companies doing their best to look “green” is sometimes called greenwashing (Coombs, Holladay 2010).
Current View
Sustainability is now not only viewed as something that firms shun because it is costly in their eyes, or something that is used to be viewed more favorably by the general public, but some (well known) scientist believe that sustainability can be a lot more for these companies. Nidumolu, Prahalad, and Rangaswami wrote about sustainability in 2009 and from their perspective sustainability proved to be a major source of innovation. By treating sustainability as a worthwhile goal today, early movers have a change to develop competencies that rivals may find hard to match in the future. Becoming
environmentally friendly lowers cost by reducing the inputs; also it enables additional revenues from better products or new businesses. Thinking about sustainability will affect products, technologies, processes and business models.
M. Porter and M. Kramer (2011) have moved even further on the sustainability ladder with their idea of creating shared value throughout the value chain. The concept of shared value focuses on the
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describe ways to create this sustainable value. Reconceiving products and markets and redefining productivity in the value chain.
2.2 Activism
The Dutch government is pushing its citizens to help with a cleaner future by for example, granting subsidies on green energy for the consumer, less tax for cleaner cars with less CO2 output
(http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/ministeries/eleni) and subsidies on sustainable entrepreneurship (Maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen in Dutch)
(http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/maatschappelijk-verantwoord-ondernemen). But not only governments are addressing social issues like this. Recently looking after matters concerning the natural environment, the working conditions in developing countries, the protection of consumers, and other human rights, are increasingly being transferred from the state, to firms, activists and other private institutions (Matten & Crane, 2005).
Companies are also pushed by activist groups. Activists present themselves as legitimate claimants in these matters and, accordingly, put pressure on firms to address these issues, sometimes with considerable success (Den Hond De Bakker 2007). Oxford Dictionaries (http://oxforddictionaries.com) defines activism as: “The policy or action using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.” Grunig (1992 p. 504) stated that: “An activist group is a group of two or more individuals who organize in order to influence another public or publics through action.” Den Hond and De Bakker (2007) view activist groups as: “Stakeholder groups that represent a social movement or that claim to do so.” Another short and basic definition is given by Coombs and Holladay (2010 p. 82) saying that activist groups are organized and set on influence. Coombs and Holladay also state that activist themselves see their actions as a moral obligation to society, and even the corporations they attack to make their case heard and taken care of. In the more progressive writings about activism, activists are proved to be bellwethers of societal change and that companies who monitor this societal value shifts can greatly benefit.
Tactics
Activists want change on the subjects they feel they are representing. Below different tactics used to achieve that goal will pass the review.
“Activist groups usually start an influence campaign by collecting and organizing information about some issue about which they are concerned (e.g., sustainable development, human rights, labor conditions), disseminating this information to their audiences and formulating desired outcomes. They inform the target firm’s top management of their particular concern and propose desired outcomes or alternative courses of action. If the firm’s responses are considered inadequate, they will likely continue their campaign by starting to employ a more varied set of tactics (De Bakker Den Hond 2008)”.
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change as well because large numbers of people aware of on unwanted situation might mean reputational damage for the affected firm (Coombs and Holladay 2010 p. 83).
De Bakker Den Hond (2008) continue by describing four different kinds of tactics activist groups might use. Shareholder activism is the tactic of buying shares in a company by an activist group and filing shareholder resolutions at a firms meeting. It can help pull a firms management into dialogue. Political consumerism involves choosing products and services based on political values of the company, the most known is the boycott which can damage financial performance of companies but will most likely be of impact to the firms reputation. Social alliances involve the cooperation between an activist group and a firm. A social alliance might give the firm an activist perspective, and might be less vulnerable to other activist groups attacking. The danger lies more in the activist corner as they might receive flack from other activist groups claiming they have sold out. Coombs &Holladay (2010) refer to this as co-optation.
Activism along the spectrum
There are numerous activist tactics for influencing corporate behavior and various authors have tried to make sense of this wide array of differing goals, tactics and respected effectiveness. Below we discuss the distinctions or traits that have been made between mainstream activists and radical ones, mainly focusing on the degree of change sought and the different use of strategies, see Derville (2005) and De Bakker and Den Hond (2007).
Derville (2005) makes a distinction between radical and moderate activists in the degree of change sought (radical activists are more fundamental, and challenge the status quo while trying to prevent it from worsening), their use of organizational strategies (radicals pressure their targets by acts of humiliation, boycotts and even terrorism, where moderates use more strategies that are more reasonable ), and the difference in self- and other-directed movements (Self-directed activist organizations are those in which people engage in activism for themselves based on their identities, such as gender, race, or sexual orientation while organizations in which people help others achieve rights are called other-directed activist organizations (e.g., pro-life activists, animal rights activists, and men who advocate for women’s rights) (Stewart, 1999).
De Bakker and Den Hond (2007) link the different ideologies with the tactics used to the ambition to influence the nature and level of change wanted. Hereby describing that ideology is of significant influence on which tactics activists will use against companies.
Radical and reformative activist differ in their approach to institutional change that involves both the deinstutionalization of practices in establish field frame (F1) and the reinstutionalization of the preferred practices in field frame 2 (F2). Activist groups employ differing tactics in order to better align the
prevailing field frame with the field frame represented by their social movement.
Huijstee & Glasbergen (2010), also looked at this conceptual model of De Bakker and Den Hond (2007) summed it up as follows: “A recent conceptual study by Den Hond and De Bakker (2007) identified two aims of NGO influence: to deinstitutionalize unwanted corporate norms and practices and to
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for institutional change within an organizational field, different NGOs will use different strategies to focus on specific phases of the institutional change process. Whereas reformative NGOs prefer using symbolic gain strategies (e.g., positive publicity) and material gain strategies (e.g., “buycott”—mobilizing consumers to buy a certain product) to induce reinstitutionalization, radical NGOs will use symbolic damage strategies (e.g., negative publicity) and material damage strategies (e.g., boycott) to effect deinstitutionalization.” Huijstee & Glasbergen furthered the model by adding that the strategic interplay between reformatist and radical activist tactics is complementary. This notion was also described by Derville (2005).
As the model of De Bakker and Den Hond seems extremely useful in distinguishing traits, we will explain the model of in more detail and will explain the workings of the process how radical and reformative activist groups are both aiming to change current thoughts and behaviors to a preferred new state of thinking and doing. The different phases in the process are described in the propositions. In the
empirical world these changes might not be as clearly noticeable as stated by De Bakker and Den Hond. The model below all refers to De Bakker and Den Hond (2007); cited phrases consequently are all derived from their article unless otherwise stated.
Arguments used
Proposition 1: In striving for the deinstitutionalization of an established field frame, reformative activist groups use consequential arguments, whereas radical activist groups supplement consequential arguments with structural arguments.
When striving for the deinstitutionalization of f1 activists systematically invoke moral legitimacy , actors may be granted moral legitimacy because of what they do (consequential) or because of what they are (structural) In other words granting moral legitimacy means they question their moral legitimacy in what they do or what they are. For example, reformative activists morally judge the activities of the farm in by stating that the conditions under which the animals live are not appropriate and need improvement. Radical activists on the other hand will simply oppose the entire meat and fur industry and campaign against their very existence. (Jasper & Nelkin 1992)
Proposition 2: In striving for the reinstitutionalization of their preferred field frame, Radical activist groups use arguments based on moral legitimacy, whereas reformative activist groups supplement these with arguments based on pragmatic legitimacy
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Level of activity
Proposition 3: Reformative activist groups spend more of their resources and time on activities aimed at reinstitutionalization than deinstitutionalization, whereas radical activist groups spend more of their resources and time on activities aimed at deinstitutionalization than reinstitutionalization.
The level of activity activist groups put in the different phases of the institutional change process varies. By granting pragmatic legitimacy, activist groups run the risk of being co-opted. Activist groups are likely to differ in their opinion about the risk of co-optation. Radical activist groups are less likely to call for cooperation, since this can be seen as a confirmation of existing structures; they would not want to be connected to other actors representing the very system they discredit. Also, radical activists leverage over firms might diminish because firms only want to listen to reformative activists who participate and not to noninvolved groups. Also radical activists might consider the treat of cooptation as greater, and therefore put more energy in deinstitutionalization then in reinstitutionalization.
Because of the considered benefits of cooperation reformative activists will put more time in
reinstitutionalization then in deinstitutionalization. “Reformative activist groups focus their energy on the issue of how firms in general may convincingly show that they have established high levels of corporate social change activities. According to them, firms ought to be transparent and accountable, because under such conditions market forces will reward those firms exhibiting high levels of corporate social change activities and punish those that do not. They leave it to others to draw implications from what firms report (Den Hond de Bakker 2007). ” For example they urge firms to comply with
international standards rather than challenge the labor conditions in a firms supply chain.
Tactics for institutional change
In the past a favored tactic of activists was to inflict material damage to the firm. Today’s activist groups protest tactics are believed to be increasingly supplemented by inflicting symbolic damage on
companies by reputational damage with the help of mass media, rather than causing economic damage to companies (Friedman, 1999; Taylor& van Dyke, 2004). To understand the different tactics activist groups can employ against firms, De Bakker en Den Hond discuss two influence logics. They argue that collective action can be useful if the protest raises the cost and decision makers need to let go of contested practices (logic of material damage), or if the protest is supported by a large number of people (“logic of numbers”). The logic of material damage is based on economic calculations and might come from the costs of responding to the challenge or to making adjustments (Rowley and Berkman 2000).
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morally disfavored taxonomic category.” “Symbolic damage contains a threat of inflicting material damage. Conversely, symbolic gain may change to material gain, for example, when a reinforcement of the firm’s reputation leads to increased turnover.”
The logic of numbers is straightforward; by showing their numbers protesters express en masse against the current policies or decisions. Examples include petitions, marches boycotts and other forms of grassroots organizations. The logic of numbers is said to be descending in relevance, partly because of the difficulty to attract scores of people to participate and partly because of the opportunities of mass media (Friedman 1999, Illia 2003, Taylor & Van Dyke 2004).
Non participatory forms of protest rely on the input of a small but dedicated group of activists (Rucht 1988). Examples include access to specialized knowledge and high quality information, access to mass media expertise in political lobbying or court procedures. This form of protest can attain as much symbolic damage as a well-organized rally but requires a lot less hassle.
Employment of tactics
Proposition 4: Both radical and reformative activist groups employ non participatory tactics aimed at making symbolic impacts when starting to influence the nature and level of corporate social change activities.
The interaction between activist groups and firms is at least in part guided by resource constrains, for activists because of their ambition to bring about change and for companies because of their goal for profit. In terms of cost and effectiveness it is easier for both radical and reformative activists to begin their campaign by notifying the company about their discontent about the current practices. “If nothing changes, or the firm doesn't respond, more radical and resource intensive tactics will be used leading to an escalation of the issue. (Della Porta & Diani 1999, Tarrow) “
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Proposition 5: As conflict escalates or endures over time, during deinstitutionalization, reformative activist groups increasingly will use tactics aimed at mobilizing larger numbers of protesters, whereas radical activist groups increasingly will use tactics aimed at material damage.
If a firm ignores the arguments of activists the activists will try to increase their salience by seeking support from other legitimate actors such as unions, other activists, shareholder groups or political allies (cf. Berry, 2003; Frooman, 1999; Keck & Sikkink, 1998; Rowley, 1997). “In this respect, moving from nonparticipatory to participatory tactics and moving from tactics aimed at having a symbolic impact to those aimed at having a material impact represent two options for activist groups to increase their salience with firms.” The arguments in the preceding phases are intended to influence both the public and companies, but because radical activists will use structural arguments related to moral legitimacy, they are more likely to challenge the trustworthiness of firms as the conflict endures over time. This lowers the barrier for more radical tactics of employing material damage to the firm. Also because of their more radical stance, radical activists groups have difficulty in attracting a large crowd of
supporters, and thus nonparticipatory tactics prove to be more resource efficient. Reformative groups will only alienate their supporters by inflicting material damage to companies. For them it is more useful to make use of their supporting base and involve their supporters in the protest. “Collaborations
between activist groups and firms may combine various stages in the process of institutional change, including deinstitutionalization and theorization. In this context, cooperation, as a nonparticipatory tactic that is based on the provision of symbolic or material gain, may also be part of the efforts aimed at deinstitutionalization.”
Proposition 6: As conflict escalates or endures over time, during reinstitutionalization, reformative activist groups increasingly will use participatory tactics that are aimed at both material and symbolic gain within the prevailing field frame, whereas radical activist groups increasingly will use tactics aimed at material and symbolic gain within an alternative field frame.
Reinstitutionalization is about generating support for new theorizations and about the diffusion of alternative practices in the field. For reformative activists, additional arguments are needed to support their moral legitimacy arguments of proposition 2. Tactics of material and symbolic gain like indicating benefits to a firm or cooperating with corporations that use the activists’ reputation to bolster their own provide some examples. They thus spent a large share of resources for reinstitutionalization.
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Tactics for field level change
Proposition 7: To bring about fieldlevel change, radical activist groups are more likely to challenge proactive firms, whereas reformative groups are more likely to challenge laggard firms and work with proactive firms.
“Although most of the interaction occurs between activist groups and firms, the activist groups’ ambition ultimately would be to accomplish field-level change.” Direct tactics like convincing individual field members to change their ways is one way to achieve this desired field level change, the question is however which firm to focus on. In a field where an issue prevails there are usually a large number of disinterested firms, but there are also organizations who see the benefit of being proactive in adopting practices under the new field frame. Examples of these benefits are for example a reputational
differentiation over competitors. Laggard organizations on the other hand can be easily be scrutinized by their noncompliance to the new field frame. “Radical activist mainly challenge proactive firms by using tactics increasingly aimed at bringing about material damage.” Reformative activist groups are by their nature less restricted in their choice of targets for they may challenge laggard firms and work with proactive firms and stimulate them to take the lead.
Proposition 8: The efficacy of joint efforts by radical and reformative activist groups in
reinstitutionalization is enhanced if radical groups are constrained in applying tactics aimed at material damage.
As conflict escalates over time, activists need to enhance their position in the field by forming coalitions between themselves. Because of their differing stance, the coalition works best if a separate entity is created where both ends of the spectrum can take their seat. In this reinstitutionalisation phase in a coalition like this, radical activist could therefore engage in reinstitutionalisation process as well. However coalitions between activist groups are more likely to take place in the deinstitutionalization phase because of a common target whereas the end goal in reinstitutionalisation might differ dramatically.
Impact & Response
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Move towards online activism
Other authors don’t have such a distinction between radical and more mainstream, but mention different traits. Coombs and Holladay (2010 p. 93) draw a comparison on public relation tactics from companies and activists and mention online activities and mobilization as a way in which they differ. Activists are more and more becoming aware of what the internet might mean for them and their cause. Companies must recognize the power of virtual activism. Online activities can help in facilitating
recruitment just as it can build awareness (Coombs and Holladay 2010 p. 98-104) activists can use the internet to create much more expansive social networks then would be possible without the internet. Coombs and Holladay mention special interest websites, discussion boards and blogs as internet
facilitators (2010 p.101). Recently another application making use of the power of the internet has risen in popularity. Social networking sites like Facebook and Hyves are getting extremely popular (Facebook claims to have over five hundred million subscribers). Not only consumers have an interest in these social networking possibilities, but also companies and other organisations. This is an outstanding option as activists are more likely have to work with limited resources and the inexpensive tactics of the
internet provide just that (Coombs 1998, Coombs and Holladay 2010p.103, Martin & Kracher 2008). Activist websites like www.spinproject.org and www.greenmediatoolshed.org who cater to activist organizers also describe the possibilities of social media. The next section will zoom in on this current phenomenon to provide a greater understanding.
2.3 Social Media
What is social media? Most people might have a hunch what it means, but cannot define it precisely. Oxford Dictionaries (http://oxforddictionaries.com) defines Social Media as: websites and applications
used for social networking. Social networking is defined in twofold; a network of social interactions and
personal relationships, and a dedicated website or other application which enables users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, and images.
By looking further than just the dictionary, we predominantly see books covering the subject of social media. “Social media refers to activities, practices and behaviors among communities of people who gather online to share information knowledge and opinions using conversational media. Conversational media are web based applications that make it possible to create and easily transmit content in the form of words pictures, videos and audios (Safko & Brake 2009 p.6).” A term often mentioned in the same area as social media is web 2.0, closely related, but not exactly synonymous. The phrase Web 2.0 was coined by Mr. T. O'Reilly (2007) and is used to describe features of the web that are enabled by the next generation of software and business models. “Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all
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Kaplan & Haenlein (2009) however pose a different view on the definitions of social media and web 2.0. Web 2.0 has been named as a way in which people started to utilize the World Wide Web in that applications are no longer created by individuals but instead are modified by all users in a collaborative manner. Web 2.0 can therefore be seen as the platform for the evolution of social media. User
Generated Content (UGC) in the end is the sum of all ways people make use of social media. These authors define social media as follows:” Social media is a group of internet based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of the web 2.0 and that allow the creation and
exchange of User Generated Content.” The OECD (www.oecd.org) defined UGC by way of these requirements: content made publicly available over the Internet, which reflects a certain amount of creative effort, and which is created outside of professional routines and practices.
Current internet and social media use
From 2004 to 2010 the internet access of people in The Netherlands has risen from 83 to 94 percent of the population and 84 percent of them used the internet on a daily basis in 2010
(http://statline.cbs.nl/). Mobile internet using smartphones is ramping even faster than the desktop internet did, and more than forty percent of the people who use mobile browsers, do so on social networking activities. Time spent on social networking surpassed time spent on email in November of 2007 and the number of unique visitors logging in on social networking sites surpassed email in July 2009 (www.morganstanley.com/techresearch). Examples of these social networking sites include, Facebook, one of the largest with over 500 million active users in 2011 (www.facebook.com), and Twitter a microblog with over 175 million users in 2011 (www.twitter.com). In the section below different types and classifications of social media are mentioned to give a more complete view.
Type of social media
The SAS Whitepaper (2010) and Safko and Brake (2009) have given typologies of social media. Out of the abundant choice the following types have been selected as examples.
- Social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Hyves. - Microblogs like Twitter
- Social videos websites like YouTube and Vimeo - Photo websites like and Flickr, Picasa
- Audio like ITunes, podcasts
- Social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg. - Ratingsites like Kieskeurig.nl and Vergelijk.nl
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- RSS rich site summary automatically feeds current content from selected websites.
Others like Barnes (2010) for example, talk about the six most prominent forms of social media being, blogging, podcasting, online video, social networking, massage boards and wikis.
However, the popularity of social networking has not gone unnoticed in the business world either, as a lot of companies websites allow for embedding multiple social networking sites with the form of a like or share button (See for example www.nytimes.com, www.outsideonline.com, www.nu.nl). The whitepaper research (SAS Whitepaper 2010) conducted by SAS, Accenture and Platform Innovatie in Marketing (PIM) shows the impact of social media use in Dutch organizations. The most important forms of social media use for firms are, managing pages or groups in social network sites like Facebook and Linked-In, promoting the brand, products or services, following trends for customers, offering communication channels and having dialog. Expected benefits of using social media were mainly as a channel for interaction, monitoring what is being said, more visibility for target group, leading traffic to the website and the development of marketing activities. Getting a budget for a well thought out strategy is the crux; the value of social media use is difficult to show when there are no obtainable goals derived from a well thought out strategy. Marketing and communication departments are now often responsible for social media use in companies. The firms recognize they are still at the beginning of a steep learning curve to meaningfully use this information. This demands a social media strategy to really have an impact with social media. Companies who do have a strategy rate themselves high on
effectiveness of it. Organizations they find, go through different phases of social media use. The first step is listen; find where people are and what they say, try to understand it then segment and prioritize. The second phase; engage, companies ask the question how to benefit from social media, they form relations in the community and try to have an impact by two way conversation. The third step; leverage, is the integration of social media in the marketing and companywide strategy. Show customers that you listen to them and use information from social media for innovation, customer service. Besides the development of a social media strategy, other future challenges for companies include; showing colleagues the value, get the organization to fully utilize social media and measuring the effectiveness.
Social media and sustainability behavior
Langley and Van den Broek (2010) talk about the effects of a wide range of social media on sustainability behavior. They found that stimulating participation in online sustainability initiatives is driven by the presentation of the achievements on the website of the particular cause and by stimulating participants to share information about the initiative with their social network. For peers not already coupled with the online sustainability initiative, videos and other information with high vividness is better. For peers who are part of the sustainability initiative a simpler presentation is the preferred way to present information on the achievements of the initiative to stimulate participation.
Or as they say that:” Presentation of achievements and, in particular, Sharing with nonparticipants, whereby the website enables members to share their experiences with their friends, are both strong for social media initiatives which have a large number of participants. As far as Presentation of
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as stories, testimonials or descriptions of what the initiative has accomplished Interestingly, presenting information on the achievements in a simple way with low vividness, for example not using videos, has a positive contribution to increasing participation. As for sharing experiences with potential participants, persuading participants to share information with their friends is important and, interestingly, in this case it does pay to increase the vividness of the information rather than simply relying on text.” The sharing between participants also increased the effect on the behavioral change. So the interaction among participants enabled by the website increased their behavioral change towards the sustainability initiative. They also state that initiatives that expect less behavioral change have the most participants and that initiatives that expect that largest behavioral change attract the least participants. “This finding signifies that online initiatives which expect their participants to make a significant change in their behavior still have trouble recruiting large numbers of people. “
Slacktivism is according to Langley and van den Broek (2010) a no effort online form of activism,
intended for consumers who have an opinion, for example in sustainability, but who does not really take action. This online activism is successful because it so easy to participate. And this has consequences for several stakeholders involved. Companies who in the past could control everything, now have to deal with consumers who in large numbers join pressure groups. This research can help companies in deciding their best counter strategy when confronted with an online pressure group. (Workshop report TNO researchers Tijs van den Broek and David Langley on
http://ambenaar20.ning.com/profiles/blogs/slacktivisme-kansen-en). Examples of initiatives that use social media in their portfolio include www.jumo.com founded by Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook and director of online organizing for Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign and
www.crowdrise.com founded by actor Edward Norton. 2.4 Research
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3.
Methodology
In this section the methodology is explained. First we talk about the qualities of qualitative research over that of quantitative research. Next the logic of the case study is examined, followed by how the research questions were drawn up. Section 3.5 discusses the plan for data collection and section 3.6 explains the logic of the interview questions. In the final paragraph of this chapter an explanation of the data analysis is presented.
3.1 Qualitative research
Guiding principles for quantitative research has been to clearly isolate causes and effect, to measure and quantify phenomena and to create research designs allowing the generalizability of the findings. In order to be able to do this, the conditions of the phenomena and relations are to be controlled as much as possible. In the case of social sciences the low degree of applicability of the results and connecting them to theory and societal cases has been known to be problematic. Qualitative research on the other hand, can be used to formulate statements which are related to subjects and situations and are
empirically well founded (Flick 2006 p 12). Since we are looking for a answers on the specific question if the social media use varies between activist groups, qualitative research allows us to do that without having to control the circumstances quantitative research would require us to do, but within real world situations.
3.2 Case study
There are several ways of doing research; examples include surveys, histories and experiments. Yin (2009) states that three conditions dictate which method is preferable; the type of research question, the control the investigator has over events and the focus on contemporary and not historical events. In our case we want to investigate how social media is used in different groups of activists and why this might be the case. The how and why questions are of an explanatory nature .Yin (2009) further states that in cases that the investigator has little influence over the event and that the focus is on a
contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context, a case study is preferred over other research methods. One more, and perhaps the biggest motivator to do the case study method is that it is relevant to get an extensive and in depth description of the phenomenon, the case study offers as shown by the definition of Yin (2009 p.18): a case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within and within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident.
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“A research design is a logical plan form getting from here to there, where here may be defined as the initial set of questions to be answered, and the there is some set of conclusions (answers) about these questions” (Yin 2009 p. 26). Or, as cited by Flick (2006 p.135) “Research design is a plan for collecting and analyzing evidence that will make it possible for the investigator to answer whatever questions he or she posted (Ragin 1994 p.191).” So a case study design purpose is mainly to get the evidence to address the initial research questions. The literature review has given us insight about sustainability, activists and social media, as well as indications to what has not been studied yet and what questions are still open; our research questions. Or as Flick (2006 p60) says: “theory will give a theoretical framework for conceptualizing your study.”
We will use concepts of grounded theory research which gives priority to the data and the field under study over theoretical assumptions. As quoted by Flick (2006)” The delay in structuring implies the abandonment of the ex-ante formulation of hypotheses. In fact the research question is outlined under theoretical aspects, but the elaboration does not culminate in the set of hypothesis (Hoffman-Riem 10980 p343).” The subjects are selected on their specific relevance on their topic. The aim is not to break it down into variables, but to add context (Flick 2006).
One of the goals often cited when using grounded theory is theory development. Our aim however is not to come up with a new theory, but more detailed descriptions or evaluations of the current practice, in our case the use of social media in the different spectra of activism. This is in accordance with Flick (2006 p.136) as he states: “The requirements of theory development is an excessive burden for many types of qualitative studies. In a graduation thesis with a very limited time budget, this goal can be as unrealistic as it is incompatible with the intentions of many of those who commission qualitative
research projects. Here what is required are detailed descriptions or evaluations of current practice.” Of the different types of objectives for qualitative studies description, hypotheses testing or theory
development (flick 2006 p137-138) the first seems most fitting.
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The research questions should be formulated in concrete terms with the goal that they should clarify what the contacts in the field are supposed to reveal. The principle of openness does not imply the abandonment of research questions. Generally the research will follow along the line of the formulation of the research question and later sub questions, formulation of the concepts, selection of research groups, selection of appropriate methods, evaluation of the specific research questions, the collection of data, evaluation of the research questions, analyzing the data, generalizing of the findings and lastly, the formulation of the findings (Flick p.107). Our main research question is: Is there a different use of social media recognizable between the different (reformative or more radical) sustainability activist groups? So according to Flick it is possible that the research question is subject to change. The next step still open is the collection of data which will be covered in the next part.
3.4 Data collection
The data in a multiple case study design can come from multiple source of evidence like documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observations, participant observation and physical artifacts (Yin 2009 p.102), but using one does not expel the other, in fact using multiple sources of evidence can maximize the benefits. Documentation is likely to be relevant for every case study subject and can take the form of letter, email correspondence, to formal studies and newspaper clippings and are probably available via the internet as well. Benefits are its accessibility, broad coverage and unobtrusive nature, when possible downsides include biased selectivity and retrievability. The same goes for archival records. Interviews are one of the most important sources of evidence in case studies. There are several forms of interviews like in depth which might be over a longer period of time, the focused interview which offers the same flexibility but can be done in a shorter period of time as you follow a certain set of questions. The third form is more structured and goes along the line of a survey. As our goal to get an in depth perspective in a short amount of time the focused interview is very suited for our purposes. (Yin p.98-120) The observation techniques of data collection as well as the artifacts do not have a lot in common with our objective.
25 3.5 Interview Questions
The interview consists of two parts. The first part is based on the model of De Bakker and Den Hond (2007) and is used to indicate a reformative or radical definition of the activists. This will cover the arguments used, the level of activity and the employment of tactics. A table shell was developed after thoroughly reading and rereading the article of De Bakker and Den Hond. The propositions were entangled into reformative and radical stances and questions. This proved to be a long and arduous process. The table shell can be found as appendix number one.
The second part of the interview will be concerned with the social media strategy in the activist organization and is based on the theory under social media. Questions of how and why social media is used are examples. The idea is to get as much information as possible on this subject and in the interviews there is room for deviation of the questions if the interviewer deems this possible. This possibility to go in depth en sometimes deviate from the interview list is one of the advantages of semi structured or focused interviews (Yin 2009, Flick 2006).
3.6 Data Analysis
Both Yin (2009) and Flick (2006) acknowledge that the analysis of case study evidence is one of the least developed and perhaps most difficult aspects of working with case studies. A lot depends on the investigators own style of analytical thinking, presentation of evidence and considerations of other interpretations. (Yin 2009 p.127) Helpful however is putting the information in general arrays like we did with the case descriptions.
Yin presents four general analytic strategies, they are; relying on theoretical propositions, developing a case description, using both qualitative and quantitative data and examining rival explanations.
As most cases are structured around theory and theoretical propositions, a logical way to tackle the data is using these with guiding the analysis. Developing a case description is useful when the ideas for the study came from the initial review of the literature. Clearly as our interview is separable in two main parts, first using the propositions derived from the model of De Bakker and Den Hond (2007) and secondly finding out the different uses of social media, we will be using both techniques described above. Yin (2009) further mentions using both qualitative and quantitative data and examining rival explanations. As we do not use quantitative data that option is dismissed, the examining of rival explanations can be applied to all strategies but has to be taken in consideration before gathering the data.
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across uniform tables can be used similarities or differences in the cases. This method will presumably prove to be useful in this study as we want to compare uses of social media in different cases.
The data will be presented in the form of case descriptions based on the interviews and if necessary combined with secondary data. The structure of the cases will follow that of the interviews, first a part in which we will be able to see which traits can be seen as radical and which are more reformative. The second part of the case will describe the social media strategy of the organization.
For the analysis of the radical and reformative traits, we will look at the propositions derived from De Bakker and Den Hond. As was mentioned earlier, the propositions and the model were given a thorough examination which resulted in the table shell (appendix one). From this table shell we are able to see which questions can be asked and what traits the reformative and radical organizations will exhibit. This will be done in the first part of the analysis. The second part of the analysis is structured around the literature of chapter 2.3; social media. The focus will be on Origins role function Benefits/ downsides, -Type, information, target audience, features – Measurement – and Future use, of social media in the organizations. This will enable us to see the similarities and differences in the different groups (this analysis can also be found in appendix number four).
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4.
Cases
Below four cases are presented. As was described in the case design chapter, they were selected as two organizations who in the past did not forgo to exhibit radical traits and two organizations that, from the past, can be considered to be reformative. Together they form two groups on which the analysis will be done. Cases 4.1 and 4.3 are considered to have in the past, demonstrated tactics of radical activists, while cases 4.2 and 4.4 can be considered to have reformative tactics from the past. Each presented case will follow the same structure where general information about the organization can be found first, followed by the general social change strategy exhibited where the radical or reformative traits can be discovered. The final part of each case is a description of the social media strategy which they employ. The cases are presented in the order in which the interviews took place.
4.1 Case Milieudefensie
General Information
Milieudefensie started in 1971 after the Club of Rome, a group of scientists concerned with the future of humanity. First they were mainly a group of scientists concerned with environmental problems but later on in the eighties, the club gradually transformed into the activists role they still portray.
Milieudefensie wants a sustainable clean world where the living is good, and in which the carrying capacity of the earth is fully respected and benefits the entire world population. Their activities center around three main themes; traffic, food and Internationalization.
Milieudefensie is the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth International and has about 40.000 members and 40.000 contributors in Holland. There are about sixty employees who, as part of the internal philosophy are all working part-time. There are four main departments; communication, active (constituency, funds), environment (themes), and company matters.
Successes include Shell Nigeria actions against the burning of gas, “livestock factory” campaign in the Netherlands, and a European restriction on tropical wood use and import.
General Social Change Strategy Employment of tactics
Milieudefensie is aiming for a sustainable clean world where the living is good, and in which the carrying capacity of the earth is fully respected and benefits the entire world population. Three main goals can be distinguished: traffic, food, internationalization, and all the campaigns will have a link with at least one of them.
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it may concern, this includes the general public. Only if the actions above prove not to be sufficient public actions are applied to convince the parties involved. Milieudefensie uses a logical escalation ladder, logic not only for the organization itself but for example also for the media so that the actions follow a logical trajectory. Actions are not aimed at material damage and are more symbolic in nature but material damage can occur with the actions. An example of a more radical public and action is the occupation of a plane on Schiphol and the World Wood gate keeping two years ago.
“The radical actions are more a thing of the past”
Sometimes cooperation with other activists groups is used in the strategic palette as well. Arguments used
The long term goal is radically different but far from the current reality, the demands on the shorter term are more concrete and more attainable then what is aimed for in the future. An example includes the livestock debate; they demand the building blocks for the size of the operations is restricted. Logical steps are taken to get to the desired level.
Level of activity
The research and lobby from the people concerned with certain topics are at the core of the activities and that is where most of the resources are being spent on.
Tactics for field level change
On the question if the organization is more likely to challenge laggard firms or praise proactive firms, the position of Milieudefensie proves to be in the middle and the interviewee said they were “searching”. They will both sometimes challenge firms who are behind but at the same time also praise firms who are a doing a good job in the eyes. During the sustainable wood (FSC) campaign, municipalities and
government organizations were given a paper tiger award when they did not comply with guidelines from the Dutch government and a golden gorilla was awarded for the ones who were an example. Confirm activist organization ideology (more reformative or more radical).
“If you ask around in the organization some people will say reformative but other see more radical. We used to be more radical in the 90’s now more reformative. The code of conduct from the site for instance says that there should be absolutely no violence in actions.
Social Media Strategy Origins
Lots of things were going on in the field of social media and Milieudefensie wanted to get the
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funds and petitions which are low threshold and organizing action rallies which are high threshold actions). The low threshold funds and petitions have the most to do with the social media activities! The high threshold have less to do with this, as it is too big a step to see something on the website and show up at an event then it is to sign an online petition. These actions however are shared and written about on the social media and are good for the involvement of the people who are following Milieudefensie. Short videos of events are uploaded to YouTube and Facebook combined with updates on twitter. Role function
“Results are partly gained by public campaigning to show that there are a lot of people who support the cause, what we need is people to join, be a volunteer, join the social media, like Facebook, twitter, the goal is to get people to be involved. These people can then be mobilized if needed for a certain
campaign. Eventually it is about showing, getting visible to show how much support there is for the cause! This is the most direct link with the environmental results.”
Visibility for support for which the organization is fighting is very important, there is a parallel with offline marketing, the idea behind it is the same and the project team behind it is the same as well. But online there are different strategies as there are different laws for social media word of mouth, viral marketing, getting people to be the ambassador of your massage. Some of this exists offline as well, but you have less control, online you can follow what people say and influence as well.
Benefits/ downsides
“There are risks involved for the organization, if you want to use it properly, you have to be vulnerable as organization, easier to reach for everybody, but also for critics, transparency to get the involvement of the people. To show who you are and who is behind the organization. The vulnerability is the biggest risk, it might escalate but it is part of the deal.”
The benefits are the same, more contact with sympathizers you can really see if the campaign is reaching what the campaign does. Social media makes it extremely easy to get contributors to get involved, faster reaching of a large audience sharing with friends, certainly with a good campaign which touches on a sensitive subject.
Type, information, target audience, features
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communication and Facebook is more on the personal area. The Hyves account is still there but his does not lead to much interaction, only RSS feeds are posted. Everybody switched to Facebook.
Measurement
The influence of the social media campaign is difficult to measure, it is a work in progress as it should be more structured. Now it is measured from where the people have joined (Facebook, Twitter) and Google analytics is used to see what the sources are and to see what links are shared and clicked.
Future use
“Action sites are now mostly a one-time event, the organization is trying to get a longer involvement period, by more likers and followers but primarily by getting the people more involved in the campaign, how things are going, show the ups and downs. There are improvements possible for this, good content, good videos, more viral stuff, and emotional triggers.
Online funds are also a challenge. Now we have zero budgets for this, but traditional fundraising is proving more and more difficult (telephone, marketing, flyers) online is the way of the future but still navigating towards how. “
There is also lobbying within the organization to get an organization wide involvement in social media. For example; that the people who know most about a subject get own twitter account and own group of followers.
4.2 Case Wereld Natuur Fonds
General Information
Wereld Natuur Fonds (WNF) or World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is funded among others by the late Prins Benhard in 1961 in Switzerland and is active from 1962 in Holland. The WNF is concerned about the natural habitat around the world, this is spit in to two main themes being diminish the ecological footprint and protecting the biodiversity. This is done by financing projects in Holland as well as worldwide. The core values cover ranges from being the connection, knowledgeable, involved, and working together and being positive.
WNF Holland is the second biggest Natural wildlife organization right after WWF America. It has about one million members and contributors. There are a little over one hundred employees, a majority of which are women are working for WNF.
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Employment of tactics
The WNF is striving for a world in which man can live in harmony with nature. It is really civil society thinking. On the one hand you have companies, governments and society, the WNF is in the middle with a holistic view. Dialog and partnerships are in the genes of WNF so this also the way the campaigns are started. Of course information has to be gathered first. All the campaigns are communication
campaigns. Communication, education and giving information is a way to create awareness and behavioral change, as well as to raise funds. Communication for an involved constituency base for example; now customers from Albert Heijn can collect and see the superanimal cards, which is a stimulant from our side, but the customers from AH can also see the sustainable fish that is available in the shop itself, another cause for which the WNF is fighting.
The large constituency base makes it possible for the WNF to be sitting at the table of major
corporations and with partners for collaboration and advice. For example WNF is knowledgeable on world food chains mapping and getting grants for farmers and foot printing on a global scale. In exchange for advice on these matters, businesses financially support the WNF for this kind of
information and collaboration. Besides the finances WNF also expects companies who collaborated or got advice to be socially responsible and sustainable this way and to implement it in their own
businesses matters.
Because of the intrinsic nature of the dialogue and communication of WNF, they will take a look at the forces at play and will try to find another entrance if the outcome is not yet sufficient.
On the individual level, the tactics need to adapt to the wishes of the clients, more involvement for individuals, but this has more to do with the social media strategy. Making it possible for individuals to achieve something instead of just simply clicking a banner as this is not working anymore.
The WNF is in a lot of partnerships with business and field organizations as well and looking after sustainable electronics, AH sustainable fish, with Ikea for a sustainable chain, worldwide as well as partnership between WNF Nederland and also with, FSC Wood with Gamma and Praxis for example. Arguments used
The long run is at the harmonious living of animals and mankind. Arguments involve around working and communicating with others to achieve this goal.
Level of activity
32 Tactics for field level change
On the question if the organization is more likely to challenge laggard firms or praise proactive firms, the position of WNF is definitely at the reward side. The carrot instead of the stick.
Confirm activist organization ideology (more reformative or more radical) The interviewee was very clear that WNF is really reformative!
Social Media Strategy Origins
The interviewee started end of 2008 on the online communication function. When reading marketing literature on indicators to marketing trends, she read that by the end of 2010 everybody was using social media. Combined with her business knowledge and insight from their own research, the results indicated that the constituency base wanted to be more involved. Instead of just signing a check, they wanted to be involved, this was unknown until then. The realization was there that social media could be of benefit to an organization as the WNF. From there on the goals, target audience and strategy for social media was created.
Marketing and communication were involved both involved but there is not really a discernible line noticeable between the departments, the social media interest was born out of the two. Interviewee was driving force behind the social media campaign.
Now more departments are involved as part of the new social media strategy, more geared towards communication and a human resource function as well. This all part of the idea that social media is embedded in the organization. This is also part of an education process on how social media is used and, capacity building from the HR department. This new strategy was initiated this year. The internal embedding is seen as one of the most important tasks for the interviewee.
Role function
The function of social media for WNF is translated in a concise three word phrase: grow, connect and activate. Building the constituency to not only to have these people in the database, but also to connect, to try to get these people to give a lead or converse them to make a donation. The example of a tweet up meeting in building of WNF was given. It is about bringing people together, to show that the heap of likes [on Facebook] is more than the sum of its parts, this is the higher goal, but also service and
attention for the constituency, interaction on the Facebook and twitter channels. Zoom is also an example (photo sharing site WNF very popular among amateur WNF wildlife photographers) this community is about bringing people together in their passions.
