Date
5-2021
Department
School of Communication and the Arts
Degree
Master of Arts in Strategic Communication (MA)
Chair
Marie Mallory
Keywords
Nonprofit, Social Media, Millennial, Diffusion of Innovations Theory, Charitable Organization, Donation
Disciplines
Communication | Social Media
Recommended Citation
Rotter, Hannah Xiang Mei, "Capturing The Digital Dollar: How Religious Nonprofits Are Adopting Social Media for Adoption, Engagement, and Community" (2021). Masters Theses. 732.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/732
Abstract
The objective of this thesis was to quantify the impact of religious, media-related nonprofit adoption rate, online presence, and online giving technology. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the nonprofits’ adoption, use, and interactivity on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This thesis study was rooted in Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations Theory, and its constructs were used to best understand the adoption and impact of use within the religious nonprofit sector (Rogers, 2003). First, the researcher defined and evaluated the nonprofit’s active online presence, sophistication of technology integration, and impact of these findings. Second, the researcher quantitatively examined audience interactivity. Targeting a niche nonprofit group that has an understanding of online presence and content creation (religious, media-related nonprofits) significantly revealed that the extent of digital innovation and social media used was not dependent on the amount of revenue. This study provides the level of adoption of social media and online donation tools and audience interactivity that can assist nonprofits to efficiently invest their resources for a better return on investment on a digital, online scale.
