Charities have a unique opportunity to take 'ownership' of the internet for social good, according to  marketing expert Bill Toliver.

Speaking to delegates at the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands, Toliver said that as the internet is now reaching adulthood, charities need to take leadership in shaping how it will be used in the future.

“We're watching the internet go through a very big teenage existential crisis,” said Toliver. “What does it want to be when it grows up?

“While it was not developed with the idea of social change in mind, that's what has inspired it,” he said. “It's our job to seize control of the business model.”

Toliver told the room of fundraisers that many organisations have a transactional approach to the internet, that a 'like' on Facebook took as little effort as dusting a piece of hair off a lapel, but that the internet was an unprecedented tool for social development.

“This is our time,” he said. “It's our chance to grab hold of it and take it to the place it needs to be to become a catalyst for change.

“It's our time to lead.”

Despairing that, in 2011, half of the top ten most-searched-for things on the internet were varied types of celebrity, Toliver said that charities should aspire to change that and be what people most want to engage with.

“We represent the most important things in life,” he said. “My prayer is that we embrace social media.”