Social Media: To Tweet or Not To Tweet

This blog post is a response to the Energize May Hot Topic “Three Things Volunteer Managers Can Learn from the Social Media Revolution” By Rob Jackson

#1: 50% of mobile internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook. Imagine what this means for bad customer experiences.

Some time back in the early 1990s, I held the position of Help Desk Administrator. The job had a very steep learning curve but I was fortunate to have gone to a Help Desk Conference. It was a very valuable experience for me. One of the things which has been cemented in my brain was the following facts. A satisfied customer will tell 5 people of their positive customer experience, however, a dissatisfied customer will tell 12 – 20 people of their dissatisfaction. Of course this was way before social media came into being. With the advent of social media this figure has grown exponentially. A very sobering thought in deed if you have a dissatisfied customer tweeting to the world of their dissatisfaction.

#2: 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations; 14% trust advertisements.

How many of us as consumers, ask family or friends for recommendations. Whether it is an electrical appliance or a tradesperson or an airline, we ask people who have knowledge of, or have used the appliance, tradesperson or airline themselves. Word Of Mouth has also been a brilliant way of recruiting. As DJ Cronin suggests "The good volunteer experience is priceless for your recruitment of volunteers." Volunteers who have positive volunteering experiences share those experiences with friends. Such recommendations come from someone they can trust and therefore the assumption is that the organisation which their friend volunteers for can also be trusted.

#3: Generations Y and Z consider e-mail passé; some universities have stopped distributing e-mail accounts.

Rob Jackson recounted "....a volunteer programme working with young people that posts a thank-you message to the volunteer's Facebook timeline immediately after their shift finishes."   I am not yet convinced that a thank you post to a Facebook timeline will ever replace a genuine, heartfelt, personal, face to face, thank you at the end of a shift. I believe that appreciation for a person’s time should be immediate and face to face, where a two way conversation can take place.

In terms of an organisations “draconian rules” when it comes to social media policy, I would suggest that many organisations would be very cautious about social media because of the reasons which are sited in #1 in relation to bad customer experience. No organisation wants bad press particularly worldwide bad press.

Volunteer Opportunities: Flexibility is the key

I think that there is definitely a need for volunteer managers to have the flexibility in their programs to accommodate episodic volunteers.  We lead very busy lives and the excuse of “not enough time” probably relates to the perception of the commitment required to volunteer.  In the traditional model of volunteering some organisations actually specify a time period of commitment to volunteering; a regular weekly shift over a period of 12 months for example.  What if that person is unable to fulfil that time commitment?  While it would be great to have that commitment from people, it is not always possible for people to either make or keep that commitment.  People are unpredictable and life is unpredictable.  Any number of things can impact on a person’s life and their commitment to volunteering; a change in circumstance, loss of a job, gain of a job perhaps in another state or country, commencing study, travel, health issues, either their own or their loved ones, a life changing event such as a death or serious illness in the family prompting a reassessment of priorities.  These are all very valid reasons for not being able to commit to a specific timeframe of volunteering.

We, as volunteer managers, need to have the flexibility in our programs to accommodate this emerging trend in volunteering, for to remain rigid in our volunteer program structure may mean the demise of our volunteer programs because they no longer attract as many volunteers.  This may be because emerging trends in the way people volunteer no longer match the traditional volunteering model.  While altruism may be one aspect of volunteering, many people volunteer for different reasons; for experience for their tertiary study, to gain experience for a job, to practice conversational English skills and for many other reasons.  Volunteering needs to fit into study, work, childcare and leisure activities.  The structure of our volunteer programs needs to provide a variety of meaningful tasks with flexibility to accommodate changing schedules and volunteering commitments.  A balance of traditional volunteering with episodic volunteering provides stability yet flexibility within its structure.

The aove article is a slightly modified version of my response to the OZVPM Hot Topic for June/July 2011 by Rob Jackson. Click on the title of this blog post to read the Hot Topic.