Do you support a charity that uses social media to engage in a genuinely useful way?

This week our good friend Steve Bridger, alongside his colleague Anne McCrossan, has released a report called The Charity Social 100 Index. The Index looks at each organisation’s strength of income; strength of brand and social performance across social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube; and general social media behaviour.

While lists like this have been created before, it’s the ‘social media behaviour’ measure that stands out here. As Steve and Anne put it in their accompanying Guardian article: “our study suggests that charities may be neglecting social culture as an element of their brand and the development of communities as part of their social media mix.”

While I disagree with their belief that charities should create their own insular networks of supporters which they organise and curate – people prefer to self-organise nowadays, and creating your own closet of supporters rather than engaging with all the passionate people already out there, on their own terms, seems bizarre – I entirely support their belief that charities need to start to focus on their internal processes, training their own talent and evolving their structure so that social becomes a way of being, not just a campaign.

Here at 1000heads we well know the huge opportunities (and challenges) in helping charities become social through our work with Cancer Research UK and YouthNet. We’ve spoken at various ‘tech for good’ conferences about how to harness the psychology of sharing. And this month I’ve been putting together a FREE event for WOMMA UK showcasing the work of Medecins Sans Frontières.

Tomorrow Thursday 22nd September from 8.30-10.30am, at Leon in London’s Spitalfields, Polly Markandya (Head of Communications) and Ben Holt (Digital Communications Manager) will talk about how Medecins Sans Frontières – a leading medical aid agency with a formidable reputation among the aid community but limited awareness within the wider UK public – uses word of mouth to boost their profile and supporter community.

They will be presenting their recent project ‘MSF Delivers‘. Created in-house and on a shoestring, MSF Delivers uses cutting edge 3D photography and documentary-style audio and footage to bring to the UK public the daily work of a single MSF medical worker – a British midwife called Samantha who works in eastern Congo.  And after the event, we’ll have the opportunity to see for ourselves what Sam’s daily work is like through an awesome, immersive 3D experience.

MSF Delivers from MSF on Vimeo.

To join us at the event just email julian@wommauk.org to register and reserve a place. If you can’t make it, drop us a line and we’d be happy to share our insights about how charities can go beyond ‘Likes’ to create truly social communities.

And while you’re at it, why not share your own favourite charity social media success stories in the comments below…