Comparison and positioning of NGOs aimed at children from the perspective of social marketing on Twitter

The paper addresses how child-focused NGOs leverage Twitter to disseminate and protect children’s rights, mobilize public attention, and engage stakeholders through social marketing strategies. Despite extensive research on third-sector communication, evidence is limited on how Spain-based child-protection NGOs use Twitter, which is well-suited for real-time, interactive communication. The study investigates which content features (informativeness, entertainment, credibility, sentiment, framing) drive user interaction and impact. Objectives: (1) analyze communication profiles (format, purpose, topic, sentiment, prospect theory alignment) of leading Spain-based child-focused NGOs on Twitter; (2) establish a typology of messages from a social marketing and prospect theory viewpoint; (3) compare the impact of message types and test their relationship to engagement; (4) examine NGO positioning relative to the message typology. Twitter was selected due to its popularity for information exchange and building follower communities, aiding NGOs’ communication campaigns.

NGOs and childhood: NGOs serve social missions beyond profit, complementing state and market roles to address children’s rights. Actions range across assistance, advocacy/action, and development. Coordination and information exchange among NGOs are critical to policy influence and avoiding duplication. Social marketing, prospect theory, and happiness: Social marketing seeks voluntary behavior change by addressing needs, desires, and barriers, differing from commercial objectives. Prospect theory posits decision-making under risk is influenced by framing (gains vs. losses), with loss aversion often driving greater engagement. Online, higher emotional intensity increases interaction; NGOs may use guilt/loss framing to spur participation. Happiness and positive emotions can also drive engagement and loyalty; positive social media content (e.g., volunteering) can be impactful. NGO communication instruments: Social media offer cost-effective tools for NGOs to inform, interact, fundraise, recruit volunteers, and build credibility. Effective use requires strategic planning, content quality, and both unidirectional and bidirectional strategies. Twitter’s attributes (real-time responses, credibility, audience growth) make it particularly suitable, though challenges include limited specialist staff, ad hoc management, and issues of quality, reliability, confidentiality, and privacy.

Design: Descriptive and correlational study combining data mining (KDD framework), quantitative/qualitative content analysis, and simple correspondence analysis (SCA); nonparametric testing (Kruskal–Wallis) assessed relationships between message type and impact. Data source and selection: Fanpage Karma tool retrieved tweets from 7 leading child-focused NGOs in Spain—Ayuda en Acción, Educo, Fundación Tierra de Hombres, Plan International España, Save the Children España, UNICEF España, and World Vision España—selected based on rankings (Ayuda en Acción 2018; Oxfam Intermón 2023), registration with CONGDE, and active Twitter presence. Period: 11/19/2022–03/31/2023 (anchored to Universal Children’s Day on 11/20). Initial retrieval: 4,213 tweets; after removing retweets: 3,152. Final sample: 1,035 tweets (proportionally allocated across organizations) at 95% confidence and 2.5% margin of error. Content analysis: Units of analysis were tweets in the stated period. Variables coded: profile (organization), format, purpose (information, dialogue, behavior/action), topic, sentiment (positive/negative/neutral), prospect theory alignment (risk/benefit/impartial), likes, and derived type of message. Reliability checks conducted per content analysis best practices. Analytical techniques: SCA explored associations between (a) purpose and prospect theory framing to derive message types, and (b) organizations and message types for positioning. Kruskal–Wallis tested differences in likes across message types. Analyses were conducted in SPSS v29. Visualization supported interpretation.

- Posting activity and impact: Most organizations had low average likes relative to tweet volume; more tweets did not equate to more likes. Exceptions arose during emergencies (e.g., Turkey–Syria earthquakes on 02/06/2023), where three tweets (Plan International España, UNICEF España, Save the Children España) approached ~3,000 likes. - Sentiment distribution (Table 2; N=1,035): Neutral 56.7% (587), Positive 27.45% (284), Negative 15.85% (164). Neutral messages had the highest average likes overall; among emotional tweets, negative outperformed positive. Ayuda en Acción most often used positive sentiment (39.1% of its tweets); Save the Children España posted the most negative-sentiment tweets (36.1%). - Purpose (social marketing) distribution (Table 3): Information 72.4% (749), Dialogue 10.3% (107), Behavior/Action 17.3% (179). Average likes by purpose (overall): Information 9.45, Dialogue 1.45, Behavior 32.21 (skewed by emergency appeals; Save the Children’s behavior tweets averaged 424.27 likes). - Prospect theory alignment (Table 4): Impartial 55.1% (571), Risk-framed 27.1% (280), Benefit-framed 17.8% (184). Educo was least aligned with prospect framing (80.7% impartial). Save the Children España (55.7%) and Plan International España (54.8%) emphasized risk. Educo (28.1%) and Ayuda en Acción (23.3%) most often highlighted benefits. - Topics (Tables 5–7): High activity/topics by organization—Ayuda en Acción (environment, education, economic development), Fundación Tierra de Hombres (health), Plan International España (gender equality), Educo (education), UNICEF/Save the Children/World Vision (collaboration, especially for wars/natural disasters). Highest average likes were for collaboration-related posts, followed by natural disasters and gender equality. For behavior tweets, collaboration tied to disasters/war earned the most likes; natural disasters were second. - Message typology via SCA (Figure 7): Three types derived from purpose × prospect framing—Type 1: Behavior with benefit focus (62 tweets); Type 2: Dialogue with impartial approach (104 tweets); Type 3: Information with risk focus (240 tweets). Chi-square p<0.001 confirmed association between purpose and framing. - Impact by type (Table 8; Kruskal–Wallis p<0.01): Average likes—Type 3 (Information/Risk): 13; Type 1 (Behavior/Benefit): 6; Type 2 (Dialogue/Impartial): 1.4. - Positioning (Figure 8): Educo aligned closest to Type 1 (behavior/benefit), World Vision España to Type 3 (information/risk), and UNICEF España to Type 2 (dialogue/impartial).

The findings address how framing and purpose influence engagement with NGOs’ Twitter content. Consistent with prospect theory’s loss aversion, risk-framed informational content generated the highest average engagement, particularly during crises. While dialogue is central to community-building in theory, impartial dialogue achieved the lowest likes, suggesting that without clear benefit or risk framing, conversational posts underperform in driving measurable reactions. Behavior/benefit messages also performed relatively well—especially when tied to urgent causes—indicating that highlighting tangible positive outcomes can mobilize support, reinforce happiness-related drivers, and contribute to loyalty. Organizational strategies varied: Educo favored action/benefit framing; World Vision leaned toward risk-framed information; UNICEF was relatively more dialogic. Overall, strategic use of framing aligned with social marketing principles can improve impact, but volume alone is not predictive of engagement.

This study contributes a data-driven typology of NGO Twitter messages integrating social marketing purpose with prospect theory framing, and maps organizations’ positioning relative to these types. It confirms that emergency contexts and risk-framed information drive higher engagement, and that action/benefit framing can also be effective, while impartial dialogue tends to underperform in likes. The work validates Twitter as a useful platform and analytical source for understanding NGO communication strategies and offers practical parameters for crafting messages around risk or certainty to mobilize communities. Future research should expand to more countries, additional platforms (e.g., Instagram, TikTok), and longer periods to enhance generalizability; explore demographic moderators (e.g., age) on willingness to collaborate; and examine behavioral economics dimensions such as acceptable donation thresholds and the opportunity costs of volunteering.

- Scope limited to Spain-based (or Spanish accounts of international) child-focused NGOs and to Twitter only. - Timeframe constrained to 11/19/2022–03/31/2023; a longer horizon (≥1 year) could capture seasonal/event effects more robustly. - Prospect theory application was limited to observed framing (risk/benefit/impartial); additional behavioral parameters (e.g., changing preferences over time, cost thresholds, non-monetary opportunity costs) were not directly measured. - Generalizability may be limited; replication across countries and platforms is recommended.