Yesterday I attended a discussion hosted by the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet on how politicians can use online social networks like MySpace and YouTube in their campaigns. It struck me that nonprofits should be using these tools for all the same reasons - they're where the people are, they're viral, and they build (and already are) communities.

Some nonprofits already are using online social networks. The One Campaign has more than 32,000 friends and Greenpeace has almost 15,000. They both have created profiles for their organizations, posted photos, and uploaded video. The One Campaign has a podcast on its page and Greenpeace has customized its background - it's green.

So that's neat, but what's the big deal? These nonprofits (and many others) are reaching out to people who may not know about their organization and may never visit their website but who may be interested in their cause. And they're reaching out to them on their turf. They can communicate with the people in their MySpace community in a format these people already know and like.

The same goes for YouTube. If you post your organization's commercials, short clips of speeches, and other videos on YouTube, people can find them that might not have otherwise. They can also interact with them in a way you might not offer on your website - by commenting on them, rating them, and sending them to friends. One last reason why nonprofits should use existing online communities, they're free to join.

I wrote more about this discussion and the advice given on how politicians can use online communities here.