Evaluating Non-profit Intraorganizational Twitter Use of UNICEF and MSF

Non-profit organizations (NPOs) have used Twitter as a platform to communicate with their stakeholders since its launch in 2006, yet numerous studies show that there is no consistent strategy among organizations on how they communicate on the platform (Java et al., 2009). While these studies showcase some strategies employed by non profits on Twitter, there is a lack of research on how non profit organizations (NPOs) communicate on Twitter across branches of their organization in different regions. This pilot study evaluates 163 Tweets across Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and UNICEF Twitter accounts in Canada and South Africa to determine how NPOs frame their communications content on Twitter. Through an analysis of functional and rhetorical framing, the study discovers that some NPOs have consistent strategies in functional and rhetorical framing, while others are inconsistent between intraorganizational channels on Twitter. The findings also showcase the importance of critically looking at previous studies on NPO Twitter use, as studies that generalize how NPOs communicate on the platform may not match how NPOs communicate across their intraorganizational channels.