“New technologies are changing the way we engage communities, run companies, deliver public services, participate in government and campaign for change. These new technologies are available to all of us. And they offer us an amazing opportunity to change our world.”

“Social by Social is a practical guide to using new technologies to deliver social impact. It makes accessible the tools you need to engage a community, offer services, scale up activities and sustain projects. Whoever you are, it shows you how to take technology and turn it into real world benefits.

We want to help people in the public and third sectors do more good, by showing them the power of these technologies and how to access them. In the process, we hope we can also educate funders and policy workers about the huge shift of mindset and expectations needed to commission these projects successfully, to give the innovators more space to work.

Whether you’re a small charity wanting cheap web tools to support your work, a large organisation seeking to engage more effectively with your community, a civil servant charged with making public services more efficient, or just a concerned citizen on a personal mission, we hope there’s something here for you.

If you’re coming to this for the first time, you may just want to read about successful projects or get a view of the direction we think things are moving. Others of you may just want to skip to the practical bits and use the resources and tools we’ve collected to help you through the tricky bits in your project. Or you might just want to put the book on your coffee table to impress your friends. Throughout though, we’ve tried to signpost related content that you might find relevant to you so wherever you start, we’ll steer you in the right direction.”

Commissioned by the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), the book is available for free online, and you can buy a semi-colour version via digital print-on-demand.