This presentation was delivered at the National Mentoring Summit in January 2014.

1. Blogs, Tweets, & Friends:
Effective Mentoring in the
Age of Social Media
Sarah Kremer, ATR-BC
Program Director

3. 1.
Using
social
media
for
visibility,
recruitment,
and
fundraising

4. http://new.livestream.com/Mashable/SGS/videos/4051896

5. What is Social Media Good For?
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
• Public/supporters
• Program participants
Visibility
Recruitment
Screening
Fundraising
Support
Education
Assessment

6. What is Social Media Good For?
SUSTAINING AND
SUPPORTING RELATIONSHIPS
• Ongoing consistent contact
– Find ways to connect more with youth/clients
– Remind supporters/donors of need (and thank
them, too)
• Monitoring communication and interactions
– Youth seek advice through social media; promote
education around use and privacy issues

7. What is Social Media Good For?
COMPLEMENTING TRADITIONAL
STRATEGIES
• Keep doing proven activities
– Direct mail
– Email marketing
– Telemarketing
– Events
– Word of mouth (in person!)

8. Why Not Using Social Media?
•
•
•
•
Lack of strategy
No staff or budget
Don’t have expertise
Concerns about privacy and control
2011 www.NonprofitSocialNetworkSurvey.com

9. Strategize
• Is it beneficial for your agency/program to
dive in?
• Do you have staff/volunteer resources to
maintain presence?
• Should you have individual as well as
agency voice?
• Can you reach your goals?

10. Listen
Engage
Social
Content
Generate
Buzz
Community
Building +
Social
Networking
http://www.bethkanter.org

11. INFOGRAPHIC

12. Free Arts Minnesota, 2011

13. INFOGRAPHIC

14. 5 of these:
2 of these:

15. Wabi-sabi 侘寂
Nurtures all that is authentic by
acknowledging three simple realities:
nothing lasts,
nothing is finished,
and nothing is perfect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

16. 2.
Developing
safe
social
media
policies

17. Benefits for Mentoring Programs
• Connecting via social networking can enhance face-to-face
• Communication can occur at anytime and anywhere
• Capitalize on unique qualities of electronic communications,
such as thoughtful responses
• Excellent way to enhance mentee’s writing, reading, tech skills
• May discuss subjects online if not comfortable discussing in
person
• Can help stay in touch when youth experience transiency
• Online platforms sometimes provide insights into mentees’
needs, lives, interests, and concerns
California Adolescent Health Collaborative, 2011

18. Risks for Mentoring Programs
• Violations of privacy of
mentors, mentees, program
environment
• Mentor-mentee boundary
issues
• Potential for mentor
misconduct
• Need for monitoring = more
staff resources

19. Risks for Mentoring Relationships
Greater risk of miscommunication,
conflict, or hurt feelings if mentors
• Are not clear in communication
• “Generational cues” (i.e., typing in all
caps, using emoticons) aren’t understood
• Start messages without friendly greeting
• Don’t read messages carefully
• Are multitasking and attention isn’t
completely available for mentee
• Don’t ask clarifying questions (i.e., what
acronyms mean)
• Misread emotion or intent of mentee’s
message

20. Policies
“Youth-development agencies sometimes have the impulse
to restrict the use of social media — for reasons ranging
from fear of the unknown to differences in generational
comfort level — but that rarely works given the burgeoning
number of sites and the undertow of youth culture toward
electronic communication.” How Should Kids, Youth Workers Interact Virtually?, 2013
“Discussing media content with teens is
more effective than prohibiting access,
in reducing the amount of personal
information disclosed.”
California Adolescent Health Collaborative, 2011

21. Policies
• Must have policies around social media
engagement
– Promote benefits in safe and effective way
– Prevent risks from harming program
participants or organization
– Includes teaching component of specific
strategies: awareness, engagement, respect for
privacy and empowerment

22. Sample Social
Media Policy
for Staff and
for Volunteers

23. Ethical Principles
• Promote welfare and safety of
youth
– Use of photos and identifying info
by ANY volunteer
• Be trustworthy and
responsible/Act with integrity
– Monitoring communication
• Promote justice for youth
– Include educational component
Adapted from Rhodes, et al., 2009
Policies

24. Special Policies: Protocol for Non-staff
• Sharing info about program participants/
clients or potentially embarrassing info
• Sharing activity details
• Process for conflicts (i.e., not online)
• Rules for social media connecting
between volunteers and program
participants/clients: can they be friends on
Facebook?

25. Special Policies:
Relationship Connections
• No contact
• Minimum contact
• Time-defined contact
• Monitored contact
• Open contact

26. Tips for Developing Policies
• Ensure restrictions are not based purely on
discomfort of staff, a.k.a. digital immigrants
• Include benefits of use in addition to
restrictions
• Promote relational quality of mentoring in
helping youth connect with others; mentors
can role model online relationships and use
digital connections to build social skills
• Get input from youth participants: What do
they recommend? How do they want to
connect?

27. • Create a sample strategy for your
nonprofit/cause
• Create a sample policy document for your
nonprofit/cause

28. 3.
Using
social
media
to
build
communica<on
and
rela<onships
and
to
create
opportuni<es
for
healthy
development

29. Benefits of Social Media Use
• Extends existing friendships and provides supportive
environment to explore romance, friendship, social
status, and shared interests
• Teens from lower income families are more likely to use
online social networks than wealthier teens
• Teens find support online that they may lack otherwise,
especially marginalized groups (e.g., LGBTQ, disability)
• Teens find key sources of information and advice online,
including health information about sensitive topics
• Teens report gaining more independence and freedom
California Adolescent Health Collaborative, 2011

30. Risks of Social Media Use
• Vary by
– Type of risk
– Use of media
– Youth psychological makeup (most at risk: those
who engage in risky behaviors offline as well)
• Peer rejection and lack of close friends are strongest
predictors of depression and negative self-views
• Teens who use media heavily report getting into trouble
often, more sadness, discontentment and boredom
• 68% of girls report having a negative experience on
social networking site, including fights on Facebook and
“burn” pages for taunting or teasing others
California Adolescent Health Collaborative, 2011

31. Negative Experiences
• 25% have had experience that resulted in faceto-face argument or confrontation
• 22% have had an experience that ended
friendship
• 13% have had experience that caused problem
with parents
• 13% have felt nervous about going to school
next day
• 8% have gotten into physical fight because of
something that happened
• 8% have experienced some form of online
bullying
Lenhart,
A.,
et
al.
(2011)

32. Some Specific Risks of Social Media
• Cyberbullying
• Texting/sexting
• Adolescent relationship
abuse
• Online sexual solicitation
and predation
• Privacy
• Advertiser collecting
information/exposure to
more advertising

33. Teens & Technology 2013: Access
• 78% of teens now have cell phone, and
47% of those own smartphones
• 23% have tablet computer, comparable to
general adult population
• 93% teens have computer or have access
to one at home; 71% of those say laptop
or desktop they use most often is one
shared with other family members
Pew Research Center, 2013

34. Teens and Technology 2013: Mobile
• 74% teens say they access Internet on cell
phones, tablets, and other mobile devices at least
occasionally
• 25% teens are “cell-mostly” Internet users
• Older girls are especially likely to be cell-mostly
Internet users
– 34% of teen girls say they mostly go online using their
cell phone
– 24% of teen boys
– Boys and girls are equally likely to be smartphone
owners
Pew Research Center, 2013

35. Teens and Technology 2013: Divide
• Youth living in lower-income and lower-education households
are still somewhat less likely to use Internet in any capacity —
mobile or wired
• However, those in lower socioeconomic groups are just as
likely and in some cases more likely than those living in higher
income and more highly educated households to use cell
phones as primary point of access
• Black and Latino teens are now just as likely as White teens
to create social network profile
• Black and Latino youth are heaviest consumers of media
content via cell phone
California Adolescent Health Collaborative, 2011; Pew Research Center, 2013

36. Teens and Technology 2013: Drama
• Facebook is major center of teenage social
interactions
– Positives of friendship and social support
– Negatives of drama and social expectations
• Looking good – physically and reputationally
– is big deal
• Facebook is challenging space because so
many others are there and watching and
judging
• Leaving drama can be liberating
Pew Research Center, 2013

37. INFOGRAPHIC

38. Teens and Technology 2013: Privacy
• 61% have decided not to post something because
it might reflect badly on them in future
• 59% have deleted or edited something that they
posted in past
• 53% have deleted comments from others on their
profile or account
• 45% have removed their names from photos
tagged by others
• 31% have deleted or deactivated an entire profile
or account
Pew Research Center, 2013

40. Relationship/Connection Considerations
• Ensure all participants have access (digital divide)
and use consistently
• Consider creating group (private Fb or closed) so
that participants can join and connect via this
monitored platform
• If monitored, review to ensure mentor’s writing is
– Appropriate (content)
– Appropriate (matches and challenges mentee’s
reading and writing skills)
– Free of grammar and spelling mistakes
– Clear in communicating

41. Relationship/Connection Suggestions
• Check with mentees re: platform use and
inform mentors to aid in communication (if
allowable)
• Discuss appropriate privacy settings with
mentors and mentees
– What mentees and/or parents/caregivers can see
of mentors
– What mentors can see of mentees
• Include parents/caregivers in training and
reinforce their preferences for access, privacy

42. Special Training
for Youth
• Understanding cyber safety and
2012 Common Sense Media
cyber bullying
• Understanding privacy settings
• Understanding “forever” qualities
of online postings
• Understanding boundaries with
staff and volunteers
2012 Boys and Girls Clubs of America

43. Summary &
Resources

44. Doing Social Media
• Be ethical
• Be smart
• Be purposeful
• Be resourceful
• Be experimental
• Be productive

45. Social Media and Technology in Youth
Mentoring Relationships Survey 2013
• Friends for Youth and Center for Evidence-Based
Mentoring
• For program staff
• For mentors
• Incentives for both!
• 15 – 20 minutes online
• Announcement going out this week!

46. Social Media Resources
– How Networked Nonprofits Are Using Social
Media to Power Change blog and books: The
Networked Nonprofit and Measuring the
Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the
World by Beth Kanter http://www.bethkanter.org
– Nonprofit Tech 2.0: A Social Media Guide for
Nonprofits and Social Media for Social Good by
Heather Mansfield, Diosa Communications
www.nonprofitorgsblog.org
• Nonprofit Technology Network www.nten.org
• Network for Good www.networkforgood.org

47. Social Media Resources
• Idealware’s The Nonprofit Social Media Decision
Guide
www.idealware.org/reports/nonprofit-social-mediadecision-guide
• CraigConnects’ How the Top 50 Nonprofits Do
Social Media infographic http://craigconnects.org/
• How to Create a Social Media Marketing Schedule
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220678
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Guide
to Writing for Social Media
http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/