Non-Profits, Facebook and Unobtrusive Research

When conducting research it is important to distinguish a measure in which you are going to base your research off of.  In Public Relations Research class we have spent time discussing unobtrusive research which is the method of studying social behavior without affecting it.  The subject of your research is unaware of the research that is taking place.  This research increases the likelihood of a reliable result; because the subject is unaware that they are participating in research they do not act any differently than they would normally act.  This research is an effective way of studying behaviors, and can give you honest and accurate results if do it correctly.  .

Nonprofit corporations are companies funded by donations; they rely heavily on the amount of public's that are attracted to their message in order to remain successful.  Because they are constantly struggling over which public's to reach and how to effectively reach these public's any type of research is essential.  Nonprofit corporations need to attract their target audiences more so than any other company because they are constantly searching for ways to keep their company afloat.  An article titled “Social Media Success: Know the Frequent Users” by John Klein talks about the importance of social media, and how it is important to utilize the various media outlets to attract your target audience.  Research done showed that 150 million people in the U.S. have a Facebook page and 39 million people are frequent users who “use social media several times per day”; this is a form of social media that has reached a peak level of size and interest and according to John Klein it is critical that nonprofits invest time and energy in this medium.  This article shows non-profit organizations how important it is to research the most popular media outlet and use it to their advantage.  With 39 million people using Facebook multiple times a day, it is easy to put a message out there and get more views than you would have on a standard website dedicated to the organization. 

This article caught my attention because the research done to show how many people use Facebook, and how frequent the users update their profiles is an example of unobtrusive research.  The users of this media outlet are unaware of the research they are participating in.  But these unknowing participants are actually giving non-profits reasons to enter a new media outlet.  This unobtrusive research allows non-profits to witness the popularity of this social media, which allows them to adjust their tactics towards this medium. 

After relating non-profits, unobtrusive research, and social medias back to one another I saw how well they all work together.  Non-profits need unobtrusive research to discover new social medias that are becoming increasingly popular as the days go on.  It is essential for non-profits to expand their messages, and it is important for them to know how and where to expand these messages.  This article gave me a good perspective on the process in which non-profits must go through to gain awareness.  They have a much more difficult time remaining successful, and because of this struggle it is crucial that they participate in various research measures.