Social Media Utilisation for Community Development: A Study of Non Profit Organisations in Malaysia
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Copyright (c) 2021 C Withaneachi, S Nagaraj S
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With the increased legitimacy of social media in the eyes of key stakeholders, it has become more essential for non-profit organizations to adopt the use of information communication technologies for community development. The interactivity, user-friendly and cost-effective features have presented opportunities for NGO to communicate and engage with their public more effectively. In the case of Malaysia, the popularity of these social media applications with an adoption of 80% of online activities involving social media has heightened the need for the effective utilization of these tools. [mcmc.gov.my, 2016]. To gain a clearer understanding of the NGOs social media practices for community development, the researchers carried out an online ethnographic study of selected NGOs in the Klang Valley. In-depth interviews were also conducted to gauge their understanding and utilisation of these new communication technologies, as the study was exploratory in nature. The objective of the study was to examine the utilisation of social media practices of NGOs in Malaysia for community development. The findings demonstrated that social media practices of the NGOs were generally positive but despite having an impact on community development it was limited to being informational rather than engaging, hence limiting the potential of building and maintaining stronger relationships with the community.
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