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

Becky Steinmark Erwin, national director of media relations for ACS, says the organization created the Futuring and Innovations Center to serve as an alert group free from ACS’ business infrastructure to monitor, experiment with and learn from what others were doing to take advantage of the new media marketplace, which enabled the organization to think about emerging technologies as a means to improve its existing constituent-engagement strategies.