Exploring online coalition building: A longitudinal analysis of interorganizational networks of nonprofit homeless shelters on social media

Abstract

ABSTRACT While the networking nature of social media opens up opportunities for nonprofit e-advocacy, nonprofits’ coalition building through social media remains an understudied area of research. Drawing on previous research, we collected longitudinal Twitter data of nonprofit homeless shelters in the United States. By conducting a series of network and textual analyses, this study seeks to understand how social media’s connecting tools are used by shelter providers over time. We also observe the interorganizational networks that developed over time to examine whether online coalitions are built in the homelessness field. Results indicate that while nonprofit homeless shelters tend to underutilize the potential of social media for inter-organizational networking, the inter-organizational network tends to develop into a set of more complicated and stronger ties.