I just got out from behind a van sporting two eloquent bumper stickers.

1. Warning: Driver carries only $20 worth of ammunition

2. Lost your cat? Try looking under my tires.

With as much sarcasm as can come across in writing I’ll say he seems like an awesome, friendly dude.

I actually can’t even figure out what he’s trying to do besides scare crooks and cats. I get paid to communicate so I realize I might give this more thought than the average bumper-sticker-reader, but I can’t help wonder why he used the time, why he made the effort, why he spent the money, to slap those stickers on his van. All communication takes time, effort, and often money so I can’t imagine extending any of the three just for the hell of it (or just to tell folks I’m kind of a jerk).

Sure, there’s a lot of communicating via social media that is essentially for the hell of it, but even those tweets and posts, I think, can be categorized as having the point of connecting with friends, sharing a laugh, or building a network. I’ll argue that all of those reasons, and more, are worth my time, effort, and even money.

But what about all of the organizations that are racing to social media platforms, often employing staff to lead an organized effort? Talk about time, effort, and money spent! Are the communications worth it all? Do they have more to offer than cat jokes? Building a community online can be valuable, but only if that community is basically doing what you want them to do. What action or change do you want to see? If you’re Health and Human Services I’m guessing you’d like to stem the H1N1 virus, for example. The Department of Energy might like to promote new advances in renewable energies. Now that’s something to talk about. But still what will they say and how will they say it? It’s not enough to tweet that X is awesome or to post Y on YouTube if those messages are not promoting a change in action or perception.

I recently received an RFP that include a requirement, “add interactivity to the site.” I’m not sure what to do with that if there is not some purpose or desired outcome dependent on those interactivities. A bit further down the RFP included that the organization would like to increase online donations. Aha, now we have purpose, so we can craft messages, features, and functions that support that. Whether it be indirectly, like supporing an online community which in turn might pursuade members of that community to donate money because they feel more connected and committed to the group, or more directly like allowing users to cast votes and opinions as to what the money they donate will be spent on, purpose driven messages and communications campaigns can inspire audiences to act in ways you want, not just hide their cats.