Come On In. The Water's Fine.
An Exploration of Web 2.0 Technology and its Emerging Impact on Foundation Communications

Produced for the Communications Network
Made possible by support from The California Endowment, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Adapting to a Changing World

The advent of Web 2.0 technologies is fundamentally shifting the way communication takes place—including the way foundations talk about their work to grantees, peers, the news media, policy makers and the public at large.

The Current Landscape
There is a growing realization among communications professionals at various foundations that message discipline—once considered a fundamental element of any effective communication strategy—has grown increasingly slippery as employees, grantees, researchers, fellow funders and other stakeholders who care about a foundation’s issues are blogging, commenting and making and sharing videos and podcasts. Old fashioned, top-down, “command and control” communication tactics are being rendered increasingly ineffective with each new wave of technology, as content in all its forms is cut, pasted, forwarded, blogged, tagged and aggregated, often without the knowledge, or consent, of the original messenger.

Some industries and fields have learned to adjust to this phenomenon out of necessity. For instance, TechNewsWorld describes how a blogger unhappy with Dell’s customer service generated enough negative attention for the Texas-based computer manufacturer that the story landed in Newsweek and The New York Times in 2005. Dell ended up taking significant steps to respond and change the way they interacted with customers and the blogs, including launching www.ideastorm.com, essentially an elaborate, interactive online suggestion box.

In addition to dealing with negative attention and new competitors, corporations of every stripe have also recognized the potential for Web 2.0 communications. In a recent article, “Social Media Will Change Your Business,” BusinessWeek points out that the once unimaginable data collection and personal information tracking now possible via the Web is changing the way advertisers aggregate, dice and slice audience data, quoting Jeff Weiner of Yahoo, “Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this.”

The implications for the public sphere are equally significant, as the Internet has facilitated once unfathomable engagement for political campaigns large and small. In a recent Wall Street Journal column, former White House advisor and Bush campaign strategist Karl Rove described the tactics of the current and recent presidential campaigns: “Like Mr. Bush, Mr. Obama has harnessed the Internet for persuasion, communication and self-directed organization. A Bush campaign secret weapon in 2004 was nearly 7.5 million e-mail addresses of supporters, 1.5 million of them volunteers. Some volunteers ran ‘virtual precincts,’ using the Web to register, persuade and organize family and friends around the country. Technology has opened even more possibilities for Mr. Obama today.”

Leveraging online telephony and an array of tools that help supporters connect, join local groups, create and promote events and set up personal fundraising pages, My.BarackObama.com was instrumental in the coordination of nearly 4000 house parties in late June 2008. It has also helped the campaign raise more than two million individual donations of less than $200 each.