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Understanding social capital
Understanding social capital

Social capital (aka virtual currency) can be used to measure the effort a supporter devotes to achieving your goals.

Updated over a week ago

📌 Note: Some of the features below are available as add-ons. For more information on adding new features please see the add-ons page in your nation.

Where to start

Social capital (aka virtual currency) can be used to measure the effort a supporter devotes to achieving your goals, as well as the effort needed to build the relationship with that supporter.

It can be used to:

  • Award capital for actions you want to encourage

  • Deduct capital for actions you wish to deter

  • Manage the resources spent on building relationships

  • Identify and empower leaders

  • Measure supporter engagement 

Using capital is most effective when you clearly define your goals, identify how people help you achieve those goals, and assign capital to those actions. Thus, a supporter’s capital balance reflects their contribution to achieving the nation’s goals. 

Publicize social capital information using political capital and leaderboard pages on your website. Using these pages, it can help validate and motivate supporters.

Change the name of your currency

Rename your currency at Settings > Nation Defaults > Social capital. If you cannot see the Settings section of your control panel, please contact a nation admin for help.

1. Type the new name in the “Rename your currency” textbox. This is the singular form of the currency. For example, “Kevin earned one cool point”.

2. The next text box asks for a plural version of the name. For example, “Kevin earned three cool points.” The field is required even if the name is the same for singular and plural. 

3. Select an abbreviation for your currency. This abbreviation appears throughout your nation including in profiles and leaderboards.

4. Click the  Save settings button to save changes.

If you rename your currency, the new name will be reflected throughout your control panel. The title and headline for existing political capital pages will need to be updated to reflect the new name.

Automatically award capital for actions

While control panel users can manually add or remove capital from a profile, capital can also be awarded automatically for actions taken. These automatic adjustments are managed at Settings > Defaults > Social capital.

1. Find the action you wish to adjust in the list of actions at the bottom of the page. Hover over and click Edit next to the action. 

2. Enter set amounts for the signup, author, or recruiter in the three boxes indicated. To award capital, enter an number higher than 0.00. To remove capital from a profile, include a negative sign before the number.

3. If you wish to apply these adjustments to past activities keep the checkbox selected. 

4. Click Save.

List of actions

The most common actions have default social capital values associated with them. The table below describes how profiles are affected by actions taken. Signup (S), author (A), and recruiter (R) do not exist for every action. Awarding or removing capital using a percentage (%) of a profile’s balance is limited.

📌 Note: The list below includes default social capital types, but may not include every action available to you. As you and your supporters take a variety of actions, you may see additional social capital categories become available.

Some actions have a counter action. An equal amount of capital should be awarded for the positive action that is removed for the negative action. For example, award 10sc for making a donation and deduct 10sc if the donation is canceled. In this way, the balance will be zero to show that the action was nullified.

Capital can be awarded for the following actions:

  • Signup (S): Affects the individual record of the person taking the action.

  • Author (A): Affects the control panel user who did the action.

  • Recruiter (R): Affects the supporter who recruited the signup, aka their Recruiter.

  • Awarding or removing capital using a percentage (%) of a profile’s balance: Mostly sed when banning or removing a signup and removing 100% of their social capital.

Action: Description. (S, A, R, %)

  • Banned: Author bans a signup. (S, A, %)

  • Called: Signup calls a broadcaster’s phone number. (S)

  • Comment: Signup leaves a comment on a website page. (S)

  • Comment Flag: Author flags a comment left by a signup. (S, A)

  • Contacted: Author logs a contact in a profile. The amount awarded to the author is automatically deducted from the balance of the signup contacted. (S, A)

  • Copied on Email Received: Signup is copied on an email sent to a broadcaster. (S)

  • Donation: Signup donates on the website or an author records a signup’s donation in the control panel. Recruiter will be awarded capital if the signup follows a recruiter link or if fundraiser is indicated when donation is entered in the control panel. No capital awarded for imported donations. (S, A, R)

  • Donation Cancel: Author cancels a signup’s donation. (S, A)

  • Donation Deleted: Author deletes a signup’s donation. (S, A)

  • Donation Problem: There is a problem processing a signup’s donation. (S)

  • Donation Raised: Recommend not using this category. The signup is awarded capital for donating. The fundraiser is not awarded capital by this category. It duplicates part of the Donation category. (S)

  • Endorsement: A signup makes an endorsement from the website. (S, R)

  • Event Attended: An author logs that a signup attends an event. (S, A)

  • Event Created: Author creates a new event in the control panel. (A)

  • Event Created (User Submitted): A signup submits a user submitted event. (S)

  • Event Host: A signup is indicated as a host for an event in the settings of the event page. (S)

  • Event RSVP: Signup RSVPs to an event via the website or an author logs the signup RSVP in the control panel. If event host is indicated in RSVP, event host receives recruiter capital. (S, A, R)

  • Event RSVP Cancel: Author cancels a signup’s RSVP to an event or a signup cancels RSVP via autoresponse email. (S, A)

  • Event RSVP Transfer: Control panel user transfers an RSVP from a signup to an author. (S, A)

  • Facebook Post: A signup posts on a Facebook page connected to a broadcaster. (S)

  • Facebook Post Like: A signup likes a post on a Facebook page connected to a broadcaster. (S)

  • Feedback: A signup leaves feedback on a feedback page. (S)

  • Follower: An author follows a signup. (S, A)

  • Invoice Payment: A signup makes an invoice payment from the website or an author enters a payment in the control panel. Recruiter will be awarded capital if the signup follows a recruiter link or if recruiter is indicated when invoice is entered in the control panel. (S, A, R)

  • Invoice Payment Cancel: An author cancels a signup’s invoice payment. (S, A)

  • Invoice Payment Refund: An author refunds a signup’s invoice payment. (S, A)

  • Invoice Payment Referral: Recommend not using this category. When an invoice payment is referred, the customer is awarded capital as the signup and the recruiter as the author. This will award capital twice for the same action as the Invoice Payment category. (S, A)

  • Membership: A signup attains membership from a website action or an author adds a membership to a signup’s profile. (S, A)

  • Membership Canceled: Author cancels a signup’s membership. (S, A)

  • Membership Renewed: A signup’s membership is renewed on a website or in the control panel by an author. (S, A)

  • Page Flag: Signup flags a page. (S)

  • Page Follow: Signup follows a page either on a website or via the control panel. Do not assign capital to the author - capital will be awarded twice to the same person. (S)

  • Page Unfollow: Signup unfollows a page either on a website or via the control panel. Do not assign capital to the author - capital will be awarded twice to the same person. (S)

  • Page User Tag: Signup tags a page. (S)

  • Petition Signature: Signup signs a petition on a website or a control panel user records a signup's petition signature. (S, R)

  • Pledge: Signup pledges to donate on a website or a control panel user records the signup’s pledge. (S, R)

  • Pledge Cancel: Signup’s pledge is canceled. (S)

  • Political Capital: Author manually adjusts a signup’s social capital. (S, A)

  • Profile Note: Signup adds a note to his public profile. (S)

  • Profile Private Note: Author posts a note in a signup’s profile. (S, A)

  • Prospect: Signup becomes a prospect. (S, A)

  • Prospect Imported: Author imports a prospect. (A)

  • Recruited Signup: Author recruits a signup to the nation. (S, A)

  • Retweet: Broadcaster retweets a signup’s Twitter account. (S)

  • Rule Created: Author creates a new rule. During installation, nation owner will receive capital for the rules created. Similarly, creating a new website creates new rules. (A)

  • Rule Violated 1: Author logs that a signup violates a rule for the first time. (S, A, %)

  • Rule Violated 2: Author logs that a signup violates a rule for the second time. (S, A, %)

  • Rule Violated 3: Author logs that a signup violates a rule for the third time. (S, A, %)

  • Rule Violated Warning: Author sends a warning that a signup violated a rule. (S, A)

  • Signup: Signup joins the nation by taking an action on the website. (S, R)

  • Suggestion: Signup leaves a suggestion on the website. Recruiter will be awarded capital if the signup follows a recruiter link. (S, R)

  • Suggestion Answer: Author writes an official response to a suggestion from the suggestion page settings. (A)

  • Supporter: Signup becomes a supporter. (S, A)

  • Supporter Auto-Imported: Signup is imported as supporter from Facebook or Twitter. (S)

  • Supporter Imported: Author imports a signup as a supporter. (S, A)

  • Supporter Pledge No Cancel: Signup cancels a “no” pledge from a vote pledge page. The signup is a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Supporter Pledge Unsure: Signup pledges “unsure” on a vote pledge page. The signup is a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Supporter Pledge Unsure Cancel: A signup cancels an “unsure” pledge from a vote pledge page. The signup is a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Supporter Pledge Yes: Signup pledges “yes” on a vote pledge page. The signup is a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Supporter Pledge Yes Cancel: Signup cancels a “yes” pledge from a vote pledge page. The signup is a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Supporter Quit: Supporter becomes a non-supporter. Support status is defined by support level. If support level doesn't exist, actions estimate support status. (S)

  • Survey Question Response: Signup responds to a survey question. Recruiter will be awarded capital if the signup follows a recruiter link. (S, R)

  • Text Message Sent: Signup sends a text message to a broadcaster. (S)

  • Text Message Subscribe: Signup subscribes to texts blasts. (S)

  • Text Message Unsubscribe: Signup unsubscribes from text blasts. (S)

  • Tweet: Signup mentions a broadcaster in a tweet. (S)

  • Tweet Broadcast: Author tweets from a broadcaster's Twitter account in the control panel. (A)

  • Twitter Follower: Signup follows a Twitter account connected to a broadcaster. (S)

  • Twitter Unfollow: Signup unfollows a Twitter account connected to a broadcaster. (S)

  • Unfollow: Author unfollows a signup. (S, A)

  • Unsubscribe: Do not use this category. It duplicates the Email Opt Out category. (S)

  • Voicemail: Signup leaves a voicemail for a broadcaster. (S)

  • Volunteer Quit: Signup is no longer a volunteer. (S)

  • Volunteer Role Quit: Signup quits one or more volunteer roles. (S)

  • Volunteer Role Signup: Signup selects one or more volunteer roles on a volunteer page. (S)

  • Volunteer Signup: Signup becomes a volunteer. (S)

  • Vote Pledge No: Signup pledges “no” on a vote pledge page. The signup was not a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Vote Pledge No Cancel: Signup cancels a “no” pledge from a vote pledge page. The signup was not a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Vote Pledge Unsure: Signup pledges “unsure” on a vote pledge page. The signup was not a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Vote Pledge Unsure Cancel: Signup cancels an “unsure” pledge from a vote pledge page. The signup was not a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Vote Pledge Yes: Signup pledges “yes” on a vote pledge page. The signup was not a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

  • Vote Pledge Yes Cancel: Signup cancels a “yes” pledge from a vote pledge page. The signup was not a supporter before taking the action. (S, R)

Using social capital as a measure of supporter engagement

When we look at a large nation that has an ample amount of supporter interactions, we can start to identify which supporters are contributing the most ‘Engagement Above Average’ (so to speak).

We can establish a baseline for supporters in a nation as being worth 5SC (NationBuilder’s default for someone who has signed up but not taken any other actions). So if a supporter has 200SC, we know they’re contributing 195SC above our baseline. There are a number of ways that this can be helpful when organizing with NationBuilder.

For example:

  • Using SC to separate the supporters into various levels in a Ladder of Engagement (Lowest = 5SC-500SC, middle = 500SC-2000SC, Top = 2000SC & up). A great way to separate users into these levels is using the filter 'Social capital earned' and then adding the resulting people to a list.

  • Developing custom leaderboards for use in NationBuilder to quickly identify fast-rising supporters for special attention and rewards.

  • Building a social media leadership team that can be provided early access to press releases, provided template tweets/Facebook posts and campaign talking points.

Rather than using SC solely as a tool for encouraging engagement and competition, we should step back a bit and also remember its use as a tool of analysis. SC can be set up to tell us very useful things about a supporter all in one quick glance, and we can use this info to determine potentially deeper and more exciting ways to involve people in our Nations.

Related Articles
Understand default paths
Create and publish leaderboards
How recruiters are tracked
How to use social sliders
Use social capital points to find and reach out to your most engaged supporters
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