Social Software for Social Entrepreneurs

New Web 2.0 technologies promise to enable small social initiatives to achieve a comparatively large social impact with minimal resources. While this hope has already been described many times, only a few concrete projects have actually been scientifically supported. In cooperation with Plattform GmbH, a spin-off from the University of Mannheim, ifm is researching the use of Web 2.0 technologies using the example of the social initiative “Children run for children”, which organises charity runs for the SOS Children's Villages.

In collaboration with Plattform GmbH, a Web 2.0 portal is being developed for the “Children run for children” initiative, in which schools, clubs and companies can organise children's charity runs. Teachers, club members and entrepreneurs can register on this portal and organise charity runs for SOS Children's Villages either independently or in local networks. The members of the “Children run for children” initiative take on coordinating service functions to support the registered runs without having to organise the runs on site. This supports the run organisers on site and saves economic and time resources for the “Kinder laufen für Kinder” initiative. By using the Web 2.0 portal, runs can be organised nationwide with just a few people and a high benefit for social institutions can be achieved.

As part of the research project, new techniques to support social diffusion processes are being tested in practical experiments. The ifm is providing scientific support for the project and analysing which Web 2.0 practices contribute to the spread of the social initiative.