For many organizations, the use of social-media tools like Twitter and Facebook is put under the umbrella of a department such as communications or marketing.

Some groups even enlist interns to manage their social-media efforts.

But Geoff Livingston, vice president of the Washington marketing company CRT/Tanaka, says this is a mistake.

Mr. Livingston said the groups that are most successful in connecting with audiences online have a different approach.

They make social media a part of their overall organization — encouraging people throughout the organization to participate in these online forums on behalf of the organization.

The Humane Society of the United States, for example, has six people who work actively in social media. And its chief executive, Wayne Pacelle, is also an active blogger who also participates in many of these forums.

“When you’re talking about something that is so mesh-like that it can touch every single person in an organization, should you put it in a department?” Mr. Livingston asks.