Technology and Social Change The potential for social networks to transform and strengthen philanthropic efforts is still nascent yet shows significant potential. Social ecosystems formed to support the need for greater collaboration and communication continue to illustrate how effective they are as a platform for enabling social change and philanthropy (Hanna, Rohm, Crittenden, 2011). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate how Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and other social networks can be used for fund raising on the part of non-profit organizations. The ethics of fund raising is also discussed in this analysis with the concrete example of creating a Facebook Fan page to enable more donations.

Facebook and the Ethics of Philanthropy

Facebook continues to dominate social networking from a membership, activity and time-spent online standpoint. The latest statistics of their user base put total membership at 750 million globally, growing at 30% to 50% a year (Sharma, 2011). Facebook is now more prevalent than many operating...

This provides an exceptional base for initiating philanthropy programs and initiatives.
Creating a Facebook Fan Page for a given cause is very straightforward and involves creating an account, populating the account with images, and then recruiting donors and those interested. The entire process to create a Fan Page can be accomplished within minutes. As many of the children from Northern Japan are now orphans as a result of the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, there is urgent need for food, clothing and financial support for them. The proposed Facebook Fan page would be coordinated with the American Red Cross and promoted through friends and acquaintances across social networks. The use of Google and Facebook Analytics to track activity of this programs and the effects of including friend and acquaintances will serve as an index of the level of trust in the network, in addition to how viral Facebook actually is. There is much hype surrounding the…