are facilitated” (Arroyo Almaraz and Baños González, 2013: 333). The use of social networks is especially indicated due to the fact that “they allow for the transmission of values” (Baraybar Fernández, 2009: 42), and offer users active participation that goes beyond the information they receive (García Galera and del Hoyo Hurtado, 2013)

The late arrival of the professionalization of NGOs in the 1980s (González Luis, 2006: 32), as well as their communication departments from 1990-2000 (Sampedro, Jerez Novara and López Rey, 2002: 264, Soria Ibáñez, 2010: 289), and the scarce amount of people hired for the workforce (Lema Blanco, Rodríguez Gómez and Barranquero Carretero, 2016: 97), and even the lack of support from top management (Arroyo Almaraz, Baladrón Pazos and Martín Nieto, 2013: 85), have all limited the use of social networks in achieving social mobilization. For this reason, the messages disseminated are merely informative and have a “limited ability to capture the attention of the target audience” (Arroyo Almaraz and Baños González, 2013: 351). In any case, there is a polarization between the reactive use of the organizations that have scarce resources and the proac-tive use by large social organizations (Cammaerts, 2005), driven until 2008 by a cycle of economic growth and considerable public investment (Bahamonde Silva, García Mirón and Martínez Rolán, 2017: 439).

Communication management is a strategic function within the organizations, and is the reason why these organizations “no longer demand exclusively communication professionals, but instead demand professionals who by means of com-munication manage intangible assets” (Carrillo Durán, 2016: 273). In a context of constant digitalization, organizations must count on the community manager as a director of online communities in which this professional initiates and mon-itors conversations with audiences, involves them in the goals of the organization, and manages the online reputation (Marquina Arenas, 2012). The profile of community managers in Spanish advertising and public relations agencies is that of “a woman between 25 and 35 years old who has studied journalism, and who has 2 or 3 years of prior experience in digital media, though it is also considered essential to have specific training in communication” (Silva Robles, 2016: 243).

Among social action NGOs, the largest are present on Facebook (96%), Twitter (92%) and YouTube (80%), despite the fact that “the information provided to members, donors and collaborators, as well as the relationships with them, reveals a certain apathy” (Bahamonde Silva, García Mirón and Martínez Rolán, 2017: 444). However, the lack of professionalism and specialized staff in smaller NGOs implies a serious problem in the management of social networks to the extent to which immediacy, or in other words, a permanent update of messages on social networks, gives more credibility to the source among its public (Waterman, Spence and Van de Heide, 2013).

Investigations carried out have demonstrated the benefits that Facebook provides to NGOs in terms of the relationship and interaction with their public (Waters et al., 2009; Lim, 2012), who are invited through the social network to “mobilize and adhere to their demands” (Soria Ibáñez, 2010: 297), highlighting “a high percentage of young people who participate in social networks for solidarity or civic purposes” (García Galera, del Hoyo Hurtado and Fernández Muñoz, 2014: 41). In spite of this, the measurement of the effectiveness of messages on social networks is not a priority among NGOs (Arroyo Al-maraz, Baladrón Pazos and Martín Nieto, 2013: 85), and they measure the impact of their web pages in a way that is neither systematic nor rigorous, if they do it at all (Fundación Un Sól Món, 2002: 40).

“Occasionally, it is a paradox to think that many people comment on, and also believe in, the importance of communication, and yet reality contrasts with the scarce resources that are invested to enhance it” (Herranz de la Casa, 2010: 109).