Document Type
Capstone Project
Publication Date
12-2-2010
Keywords
Social Media, Non-Profits
Recommended Citation
Fritzsche, Casandra, "The Shifting American Community and the Rise of Social Media: Exploring Social Media in Grassroots Non-Profits" (2010). Capstone Projects – Politics and Government. 27.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/cppg/27
Comments
The American community IS ever-growmg and changing. As Alexis de Tocqueville asserted in Democracy in America, Americans represent a finance-driven community (de Tocqueville, 1835). As neighborhoods develop and formal gatherings devour a larger percentage of resources, Americans find themselves consumed with alternative routes for communication, gathering, and education. As new technology and ideas emerge, the community shifts and mutates, reflecting the societal impulses. Understanding the new American community opens new doors for grassroots non-profits. My study addresses both the shift in the American community and the new reliance on social media for promotion and fundraising. Using the West Bloomington Revitalization Project, a forming non-profit in central Illinois, as a case study for this investigation, I argue that social media can be used to further the goals and objectives of grassroots nonprofits.