I just read this great blog post, Social Media and Charity: Philanthropy or Crass Opportunism and wanted to comment on it and hear from others.

Well I appreciate the author's point, I think she's commenting more about corporations being involved in social media on behalf of charities rather than charities themselves. There are many other ways charities are involved with social media then just selling t-shirts on the Internet .

But it does raise the question? When does social media for your organization become less about connecting and more about marketing? Or is it intended as a marketing tool only?

Since I'm not every charity I can't answer that question on behalf of them but I do believe that social media can be used as more than just improving a brand. I think it allows the opportunity to connect with donors and raise funds as well.

I have to say, I'm not sure how I feel about this Feed America/Tide partnership. On on hand, a lot of money has been raised for the organization, but on the other, Feed America isn't getting the opportunity to promote themselves. The t-shirt is all about Tide and almost gives off a sense of bragging rights as if they need to shout to the world they are do-gooders.

So what do you think, good idea or misstep?

And what do you use social media for?