The Case (Studies) for Social Media

To further motivate others to give, beyond the application displaying the total dollars raised against the goal, a stream story to the participant and her friends on Facebook was automatically sent out every time she made progress toward her goal.

What transpired was remarkable. After initially instituting the widget in 2009, Hill Country sourced 41 percent more donations in 2010 from the widget than it had the previous year. Riders who downloaded and used the application raised 45 percent more money than those who didn't, were 22 percent more likely to hit their fundraising goals and enticed 61 percent more donors to make gifts. In all, 46 percent of all riders used the application, including 56 percent of team captains; and 1.1 percent of the event participants were sourced from the widget.