Social media developing for development

As a sector, international development has been slow to pick up on social media. The USAID administrator acknowledged as much during his town hall meeting May 5. His comments focused on the State Department’s current strategic review. At one point, he acknowledged that more people at USAID should know what a hashtag is.

I have used hashtags most effectively for events, but there are lots of ways organizations can use them. For more ideas, see Beth Kantor's list.

Social media is here to stay and by some accounts it is already mainstream. Why are people in development lagging behind? There are probably several reasons. In my experience, often development organizations--even the for-profit ones--devote few resources to communications. A second reason could have to do with their audience. If development organizations are exclusively focused on the beneficiaries of aid, they may miss out on conversing with the donors, not to mention those who contributors to the donors.

Today, organizations have to use social media to be responsive to their stakeholders. Many international organizations have jumped on the bandwagon. Of the 44 organizations that are members of the Global Health Council, 34 have a presence on Facebook. Are they using it effectively? Do they follow the rules of engagement? It surprises me that so few of their communications officers seem to use it. Are you responsible for communications at an organization that promotes international development? Are you using social media? If so, let me know. I think we are a small but growing club.