MySpace as an Organizing/Awareness Tool?

Because this came up in our last Digital Media call and Nettrice's last Digest article, I thought it might be interesting to folks that Tech Soup has a new article "How to Use MySpace to Raise Awareness" (by Eileen Cruz Coleman) about using MySpace as a low-cost p.r. tool.  It has a few general ideas about starting a social network online that I'm going to reference in my work in the next couple months, especially around the idea of active seeding and connecting other forms of communication.

Here's an exerpt:

"MySpace (or any other social network for that matter) isn't for everyone. You need to look at your organization and decide if you have the time, resources, and interest – among other things – to really make it work...You need to be constantly active, promote yourself, and keep the dialogue conversational..

Tips for Running a MySpace Campaign

1. If you decide to launch a MySpace page for your organization, here are seven things you can do to increase your chances of success:
2. On your MySpace page, ask friends to take specific actions such as "link to our Web site," "subscribe to our e-newsletter," "tell a friend about our current campaign," "contact us to learn about," and so on.
3. Write blog entries and circulate your entries via your "bulletin board." Invite friends to post comments to your blog; visit your friends' pages and leave relevant and valuable comments; host events; and continue to add friends.
4. Add videos to your MySpace pages. Images and videos have a way of motivating people to take action.
5. Update your MySpace page frequently and customize it to resemble your organization's look and feel. Be careful not to make your page appear too stuffy.
6. Don't make the mistake of staying within your own circle of like-minded organizations. When you add friends, consider reaching out to folks outside of your circle. In particular, nonprofits could reach out (via MySpace) to for-profit companies with strong social responsibility programs that can help spread the word about their causes.
7. Add your MySpace URL to your email signature line, business card, and letterhead in order to encourage people to visit your MySpace page.
8. Write articles about how your organization is using MySpace to advance its causes and submit them to both online and print publications. Or publish them on your Web site and ask bloggers to link to them."

Comment from gariet cowin on December 7, 2006 - 2:16pm

Thanks for blogging about myspace!

Some of the folks here at PCM have been bugging me to set up a myspace page for the OLLIE program (which I did, sort of), but I don't think that they quite understand what myspace is. They've just heard that it is something that young people use, and has something to do with social networking.

Their idea, I think, was to befriend Portland youth, who would then get interested in participating in the OLLIE program. Unfortunately, befriending youth via myspace is not easily done, as there are restrictions put in place to stop adults from adding under-aged kids to their friends list.

Befriending other organizations makes more sense to me. Although I'm still not totally clear on what the overall purpose is. People here at PCM seem very interested in "brand awareness", and "getting the OLLIE name out there", or whatever. But nobody has told me why that is important. So I guess that's my real question:

If we are already working with more schools than we can handle, and we are sufficiently funded, why do we care if Joe Citizen has heard of the OLLIE program or not?