A Globaldev Guide to New Social Media
Explore how global development organizations are using TikTok, Clubhouse, and WhatsApp for outreach, communications, and fundraising, in our new special report.
Social media is entering a new era. While giants like Facebook and Twitter have dominated the space for a decade, they are now facing serious challenges from new platforms like TikTok and Clubhouse as users seek out fresh content formats.
In the past, “Twitter and Facebook were sometimes positioned as the only options for organizations working in [the] development and humanitarian sectors for communicating and engaging with different audiences,” said Dante Licona, senior social media officer at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
But that has evolved over time as specialists became more creative and more sophisticated in their use of social media. Now, “we are also living in a different era where very short videos can … be very powerful and help us connect with a different range of audiences,” Licona said.
While it can be hard to predict which platforms will have longevity, the “giants” are also having to adapt to meet the competition, according to Jack Nolos, associate social media officer at the UN Refugee Agency.
“When we talk about established platforms like Facebook and YouTube and Twitter, we also forget that they’re also evolving and that they’re changing as well,” he said. For example, Instagram now has its Reels feature to rival TikTok, while Twitter has a new Clubhouse-style feature called Spaces. “So having the new platforms could actually refresh your strategy for Facebook [or Twitter],” Nolos said.
But learning new formats and working across multiple platforms that are also evolving quickly can be resource-intensive, and nonprofits have to expend serious effort to prove the return on investment for their social media work, the experts said.
Devex Pro Editor Jessica Abrahams spoke to Licona and Nolos about global development and the new social media era.
Highlights from this event include:
• Current social media trends and how NGOs and global development organizations are adapting.
• When and how to invest resources in new platforms.
• Examples of successful global development campaigns on TikTok.
• How to prioritize social media work when resources are thin.
• How to measure success.
Read more in our special report: A Globaldev Guide to New Social Media
About the author
Jessica Abrahams@jiabrahams
Jessica Abrahams is a former editor of Devex Pro. She helped to oversee news, features, data analysis, events, and newsletters for Devex Pro members. Before that, she served as deputy news editor and as an associate editor, with a particular focus on Europe. She has also worked as a writer, researcher, and editor for Prospect magazine, The Telegraph, and Bloomberg News, among other outlets. Based in London, Jessica holds graduate degrees in journalism from City University London and in international relations from Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals.
