A pioneer in social networking, the American Cancer Society realizes that Web 2.0 tools are just high-tech ways to continue what it's been doing for a hundred years — building and interacting with a community of constituents united against cancer.

By Abny Santicola

Profiles, tweets, widgets, avatars, oh my! Social networking has created a wild new world. Given that newness, it’s easy for organizations to get caught up in the notion that they need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to engaging with constituents.

But social networking is really just community organizing, taken online. Which explains why the American Cancer Society, an organization that’s been using grassroots methods to raise awareness about cancer for nearly 100 years, has been able to embrace social networks so thoroughly — most recently to help with a major brand revitalization.