Issues at Hand

• Student organizations such as UMSFP depend on funding from various sources in order to promote their cause. How effective are they at connecting with their members, the student body, and other institutions? How do they capture interest, and fundraise? Simply having an email no longer suffices; student organizations must present themselves in a compelling way that can reach all.

Findings

• ​Today, having an online presence is no longer enough. Tilt found that NGOs successfully communicated with corporate entities when their websites were pleasing aesthetically, navigable, and provided relevant as well as forward-looking information. Further, successful websites always included positive comments promoting their cause, rather than negative comments bashing opposing ideas.
•  Mero suggests that links to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media increase student participation. With the implementation of voting on Facebook for student elections at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the university saw the highest rates of student participation in the school's history. 
• Ritu Agarwal finds that a website's value in terms of "usability" is determined by low technical errors, more positive attitudes toward the "target system", and increased usage of the website itself. Further, the use of rich media and interactivity gives an organization a greater degree of credibility by the user. In order to appeal to the website user's emotions and sense of community, organizations must know who their audience is, what they are promoting, and keep their information consistent.