University of Massachusetts at Amherst freshman Andrew Leavitt has something in common with software creators and advertising professionals - a growing recognition of the marketing power of social networking websites such as Facebook.
"Everyone is on Facebook 24-seven," Leavitt, 18, of Concord said of his peers. "It is the easiest way to get the word out there."
A fund-raising veteran of sorts, Leavitt discovered last year that Facebook is a far more effective marketing tool for his charitable events than fliers and word of mouth. And his experience is quickly being affirmed by other local youth with social causes.
Lincoln-Sudbury High School juniors Rebekah Glickman-Simon and Alexandria Giacalone of Sudbury saw Leavitt's success and used Facebook to help put out the word about their dance at the Concord Armory last month to raise money for victims of the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. And at Brandeis University in Waltham, students have been using Facebook to organize and sustain protests over the student-activity fees charged by the university.
The website, facebook.com, is where many high school and college students spend hours checking out who's in a relationship and who's not, sending faux cocktails and gifts to each other, and playing games like Scrabulous. With some 58 million active users, it can also be a powerful tool for them to promote events, parties, and causes to people far beyond the community of any one school.
The website not only provides broader audience reach, Glickman-Simon, Giacalone, Leavitt, and others say, but also has features that make organizing, promoting, and hosting events easier. Facebook event "invites" allow promoters to provide details about an event as well as deliver special instructions.
"It's the easiest way, really, to ask people if they're coming and get responses quickly," Glickman-Simon, 16, said.
Leavitt, who began organizing charitable events when he was 10, used to spread the word by passing out fliers at lunch. Now he forwards an invite to his growing friends list on Facebook, which his friends promptly forward to their friends, and so on.
His last two events, promoted primarily through Facebook, had a higher turnout than the previous six events combined. In April, he raised about $3,000 for the scholarship through an event in which he says at least 90 percent of the guests attended because of Facebook.
"Facebook really allowed young people to be able to reach other towns," Leavitt said. "It's given us the power to bring people together."
Rachana Rathi can be reached at rrathi@globe.com.
