Did you participate in the Twit-Out yesterday? Do you even know what that is? To get you up to speed, a handful of Twitter users, fed up with the regular outages of their favorite service, decided to band together to show Twitter some tough love by boycotting the service for a day. (Unfortunately, despite having fewer users on the service, Twitter still went down). However, in light of recent world events, it's a shame that the cause the tech community has chosen to rally around is that of Twitter's instability. Aren't there more important things going on right now?
Instead of watching Twitter's ups and downs, we the members of the tech community could be using our social media super-powers to make a real difference in the world. We know how to spread news fast, share images and videos, organize our friends, and empower others all by using the same social media tools that we use in our every day lives. Isn't it time we put them to use towards a good cause? Below are some great examples as to how that can be done.
Forrester Analyst Jeremiah Owyang has been using his blog to bring attention to the situation in China after its devastating earthquake which may eventually claim over 50,000 lives. Jeremiah used his blog as a platform to inspire people to donate money to the Red Cross. On May 15th, he blogged a series of photos compiled from his trips to China which showed images of everyday life in China, cityscapes, beautiful outdoor shots of flowers and gardens, and smiling children, among many other things. He followed up again on the 20th, this time to help people understand what a large number of people were affected by the quake. This post showed pictures of U.S. cities in an attempt to illustrate how many are homeless after the Chinese quake.
He has also made sure to update both posts with a link that allows you to Digg the story.
When our very own Corvida awoke to a tornado tearing through her neighborhood on May 11th, she immediately Twittered the news. After hours went by she checked back in and was greeted with tweets of concern and support. Then, when her family couldn't afford the hotel room rates in the area, she hesitantly reached out to Twitter for help. Her Twitter family didn't let her down - donations came pouring in. She received about $150 total - enough for the hotel room and then some. She used the remaining funds to help the other families on her street with their needs, buying them supplies and food. This showed that even a small community like that of Corvida's Twitter social circle can affect a big change on many lives.
A post earlier this year on RWW highlighted some ways that Facebook was being used as a vehicle for social change. One of those ways is the Facebook Causes application, which "connects thousands of people with common interests in humanitarian efforts." You can use the app to browse through all sorts of social causes which include relief efforts, environmental causes, political causes, educational efforts, and more. For example, there's now the Red Cross's Causes Page which helps raise money and awareness for the relief efforts in China. There is also a similar service on MySpace called Impact, which is more like a portal for non-profits group activity, featuring news, videos and events..
Last December, we wrote about how two brothers used YouTube to promote various charities. The brothers started a project called "Nerdfighters Power Project for Awesome," which entailed a series of videos, each featuring a certain charity. Their videos briefly became YouTube's most discussed videos, filling each one of the slots on the YouTube's Most Discussed Videos page. They didn't use any tricks to do so, either. Instead, they reached out to the YouTube community to generate interest, messaging many high-profile YouTubers and generating a mailing list of around 4,000 interested people who were later alerted when it was time to act.
As we reported in April, a UN report showed that mobile technology is changing the way that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work, using mobile technology to overcome humanitarian challenges. According to Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation, the technology is being used to "connect families separated by disaster, help emergency relief workers respond more quickly, empower health workers with data to help combat disease and epidemics, track the impacts of climate change, and even help in the resolution of civil conflicts."
The technology is also heavily used today to get information from citizen journalists to the mainstream media. For example, during last year's wildfires in California, major news outlets like NBC San Diego and CNN's i-Report each received around 2,000 submissions of photos and video from people who sent in submissions via their mobile phones. In fact, CenterNetworks reported that the spread of information didn't even stop there, but that other social media sites like flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and others were also used to get the word out.
And if you want to get involved with mobile activism, there is MobileActive.org, a site that is an all-volunteer community of people and organizations using mobile phones for social impact. Their aim is to promote the use of mobile technology, which can help NGO's better serve their communities.
A recent spinoff of the infamous "Hot or Not" web site launched by MTV’s college network and the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation, is www.posornot.com. The questionably tasteful but well-intentioned site is an educational effort on the subject of HIV. Disguised as a game, visitors click to guess whether the people in the photos shown are "Pos" (positive for HIV) or "Not." The message, obviously, being that you can't tell just by how someone looks.
A post on the Online Spin blog focuses on how social media can be used for social good. Featured in the article are numerous sites that harness the power of social connections for good causes, like Charity Water for example, which aims to get the word out about the need for clean drinking water worldwide, and Jessica Biel's social network, the "Make the Difference Network", where she uses her celebrity status to get people involved. There are other great sites you can get involved in, too, like Idealist and Change.org.
Even on a smaller scale in the tech community, we have "internet celebrities" of our own. If they chose do to so, they could influence their fans and followers to do much more than just sign up for the next greatest web app.
All across the social web, you'll find sites where members of the tech community are helping non-profit organizations help leverage the power of the social web to do good. Sites like NetSquared and NTEN, for example, are great resources for helping non-profits. And here at RWW, we put together a Web Toolkit for Non-Profits, which included tools for creating a web site, communication, fund-raising, recruiting, and more.
Have you been inspired to do good via social media? Let us know how in the comments.
Comments
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While the idea of the post is probably novel, this sentence caused me to stop respecting your opinion, Sarah Perez:
"However, in light of recent world events, it's a shame that the cause the tech community has chosen to rally around is that of Twitter's instability."
You want to do something for earthquake victims? Stop reporting on news only the tech community (read: a very small percentage of all the people) is interested in and go to China to help the people there, adopt orphans, etc.
Or, if you like your job even after all these recent events, you could stop being hypocritical and let people spend their time on what they think is important, even if it's not always charitable!
Oh, and btw: What's the use of Twitter's awesome instant fundraising capability when it's offline?
Posted by: Sebastian | May 22, 2008 5:56 AM
Sarah, great job, you bring light to important issues. Thanks for raising awareness about these many important charities.
Posted by: Jeremiah Owyang | May 22, 2008 6:05 AM
I think one of the most interesting players in this space is http://www.Changemakers.com They are competition based financing for social innovation.
Posted by: Robert Q Benedict | May 22, 2008 6:05 AM
Sarah -
Thanks for all of the information - I found it doing my morningly news-run for http://makesomethinghappen.net/ and I will surely be linking it there.
I think that I understand where Sebastian is coming from. Why so angry? Firstly, it is difficult to stomach a comment that shoots down one's opinion on the basis of their stance on Twitter. Telling someone that you simply don't respect their opinion is really a backwards way to connect or to get them to hear what you are saying. However, moving beyond the venomous nature of the comment's opening, it appears that both comments are in agreement. Sarah appears to wish that the tech community would rally around something bigger than itself, no?
Further, straight up going to China and helping is just part of a greater effort to give a hand. "Help" and "engagement" is a multi-dimensional process that does not only include physical aid. Awareness is certainly important, and as Sarah notes, leveraging social media is an important way to do that.
The rest of the message seems somewhat confused and non-linear. I hear Sebastian's frustrations, but taking them out on people who are trying to help while inserting opinion here and there seems unnecessary.
Thanks so much.
.a.
Posted by: Alex Steed | May 22, 2008 6:45 AM
Great article. Over at http://weworkforfree.com we're working hard to create web applications that will benefit developing nations and communities. The key is to remain relevant and innovative while offering aid to people who can benefit from your efforts in immediate ways.
Posted by: Jon Gos | May 22, 2008 6:55 AM
Don't forget http://www.thepoint.com . Its a great way to determine what changes and causes you should be channeling your energy towards.
Posted by: Brad | May 22, 2008 7:08 AM
Tom Stader, an American in China working with local Chinese communities, is trying to resuscitate devastated local schools. His non-profit, historically, has focussed on providing rural libraries and books but is expanding its activities during this crisis. He has a facebook group for The Library-Project, on which he posts news and information, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13681760645 .
Posted by: peter brantley | May 22, 2008 7:16 AM
It's important that this post is primarily discussing uses for social media, not internet-empowered social tools for change; that's why sarah highlights a lot of different ways to raise awareness, maybe even drive traffic to sites where you can donate. Far, far more interesting for me is tools that help us MAKE a change - tools for society, not communication media.
Posted by: Bradley | May 22, 2008 7:29 AM
It is easy to look down and others and write about how they petty they are being. But do you know anything about what these people do in their everyday lives? Of course not. I don't know how you contribute to society or social aid, but I'm not judging you for that, I'm saying you're wrong for calling out others of whom you know nothing about. Unless I'm wrong and you know these people intimately.
Thank you for these examples however, they may hopefully inspire many to go out and act for social change.
Posted by: Tanya | May 22, 2008 7:29 AM
I agree with Bradley, but let us not forget that these communications tools that help to broaden the conversation and support for issues are equally important to creating the change. The larger the pool of advocates that know about an issue, the more that will actually roll up their sleeves when it comes to making the change. Great post, Sarah.
Posted by: Jeremy Pinches | May 22, 2008 7:46 AM
I have a brother in law in malaria control in Kenya. Inspired by his efforts to build a digital map of the spatial limits of malaria infection we (my business partner and I) are hoping to develop a social tool to harness mass collaboration of field scientists around the world to accelerate the control or reduction of infection. If we can integrate the map also, the potential benefits are huge. The project hit a funding hurdle early on but new light is emerging. We hope to be talking about this at 2gether 08 in London in July.
for more info contact sean@hoopassociates.co.uk
Posted by: sean.ohalloran.myopenid.com
|
May 22, 2008 8:16 AM
The power to make a difference by social connections is how the graph will prove to be most beneficial for our children. This is what social media is doing for the world. We weren't able to connect on television. It's ok to be entertained while making progress. www.TogetherChange.com
Posted by: togetherchange.com | May 22, 2008 8:57 AM
There's also a blog dedicated to this subject matter: MaxGladwell.com. We wrote also wrote "Ten Ways to Change the World Through Social Media" on Sustainablog, which was referenced in the OnlineSPIN column that you mention.
Posted by: Max Gladwell | May 22, 2008 9:01 AM
Great Post Sarah!
My MBA project has been tasked with just this! Use Web2.0 technologies to support global causes.
We have created an Amazon WebStore where all commissions go to deliver education and safety to promising young women from Mozambique.
On the site, we also sponsor incredible female entrepreneurs in emerging nations through Kiva.org.
I encourage everyone to learn more about these great causes at my blog!
Thanks everyone!
Posted by: Trevor Speirs | May 22, 2008 9:14 AM
Hi there, this is Claire from the American Red Cross. Thank you for posting this informative article. I'd also like to offer Jeremiah Owyang some kudos for the creative perspective in his blog posting about the vast number of people made homeless by the earthquake in China.
Social media users can make a difference for those in need.
Posted by: Claire Johnson | May 22, 2008 9:16 AM
@ Sean
Here's a cool project that might help out your brother-in-law. Mapping Africa tourism routes is different, but it may share some similarities
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/5619
Posted by: Robert Q Benedict | May 22, 2008 9:16 AM
Thanks for the link to my online spin column.
Obviously, with no little amount of bias, I am very proud of what SocialVibe.com's members have done to help charities over the past couple of months, and we are only at the tip of the iceberg. People inherently want to do good and have that spark. Social media is going to pour gasoline on the spark. I, for one, am very excited to see what happens next.
Posted by: Joe Marchese | May 22, 2008 9:31 AM
I'm in! MaxGladwell.com.
Posted by: Max Gladwell | May 22, 2008 9:33 AM
This post is quite timely and well presented. For everyone who has ever had to suffer the slings and arrows of comments like "social media is stupid," I will keep these examples top of mind as a rejoinder.
You've given me some great ideas for action, as well as a future blog post to help spread the word.
Well done, Sarah.
Posted by: Matthew Chamberlin | May 22, 2008 10:24 AM
Hi Sarah,
I still don't get the Twit-out reference but I'm glad you focus on the tech community's efforts to rally around socially relevant causes on social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn (I'm the Community guy at LinkedIn).
http://tinyurl.com/3pu8ou
Thanks for shining the spotlight on these efforts. And, of course, so glad to see my friend Jeremiah's efforts in this space too.
Posted by: Mario Sundar | May 22, 2008 10:29 AM
Great list and ideas!
You should also check out World Changing (a platform of world chanding ideas) and UnLtdWorld ( http://www.unltdworld.com ) and online platform that connects thousands of social entrepreneurs around the world.
Posted by: Alberto Nardelli | May 22, 2008 10:40 AM
Another way to look at social media for change is through the lens of Attention Economics.
I like to draw a parallel with the success of micro-credit in conventional economics. For instance, when Muhammed Yunnus founded what became the micro-credit & the Grameen Bank movement in Bangladesh, it was from his analysis that “the poor aren’t poor because they lack skills. They’re poor because they aren’t allowed to keep the fruits of their labour”. Which sounds kind of Marxist, except that his response is to create a bank that offers the appropriate technology (in the form of financial products appropriate to the poorest in Bangladesh), the necessary institutional infrastructure (the Grammen Bank itself), and the appropriate methodology for the consumption of the institution's services (the practice of forming “lending circles”). You need all three pieces, but the result is that in poor women in Bangladesh (for instance) being able to successfully consume financial services that allow them to compete successfully in free markets. It’s game changing - and no Marxism Required! (It’s a great story, I’d recommend his book “Banker to the Poor).
I’d argue for a parallel analysis applied to Good Causes competing within attention economies. What if we can extend Mr. Yunnus’ analysis and conjecture that “The poor are poor because their voices aren’t heard" – or at least, not heard in a way that really matters.
Where Mr. Yunnus had to innovate technology, infrastructure and methodology to get past the barriers that made traditional financial services inaccessible and irrelevant to the poor, I advocate that the way to frame the problem of using social media for change is not about simply how to more widely distribute information on Good Causes. We need to instead look towards innovating the technology, institutional infrastructure, and methodology around the production, dissemination and consumption of social media that can allow these voices to heard, not because we’ve played the Good Cause card, but because these are interesting people with interesting stories that can compete successfully for our attention in their own right.
Mr. Yunnus advocates that Access to credit be a human right. The parallel in an attention economy is of attention as a Human right. Except that one's own attention is as much a human right (demand-side economics), so short of some kind of Stalinist nonsense, you can't really tax people's attention and redistribute it to the poor (*). Following Mr. Yunnus' example the alternative is to develop the technology, infrastructure, and methodology and allow the voices of the marginalized to compete within the realities of the market, such as they are.
The potential I see for Social media isn’t to charitably give the marginalized more of our attention any more that Mr. Yunnus’ solution is about charitably give the poor money, and there are several ways in which social media has the potential to be utterly game changing in this, perhaps even to the extend that Mr. Yunnus’ innovations in the financial sector have proven game changing.
Not an easy thing to do. Constructing media that successfully communicates across such a great distance, with the realistic budgets of the kinds of organizations placed to facilitate, is a major challenge, and there's a *lot* left to innovate.
But it’s this potential that has brought me to the social media space, and why I read Read Write Web, in the first place. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understanding these dynamics in recent years - how organizations produce media on Good Causes and how people consume it. And from this I’ve developing an open source Flex ( + Drupal, Facebook etc) based social media content framework that pushes in this direction. I’d flog it shamelessly except that it’s not released yet. (The “Subaltern Engagement Platform”, Semi-private alpha next week however: alpha [at] subalternproductions [dot] org).
Interesting article, and discussion – it’s all a part of the puzzle of what to innovate next.
Ian,
Subaltern Productions
Posted by: Ian McDonald | May 22, 2008 10:44 AM
Listen, all you Twits are in for a shock. You're going to have several million more joining just to form carpool alliances.
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/what-echanges-will-high-oil-prices-bring/
Isn't that what you wanted? Going mainstream?
Posted by: Mike Cane | May 22, 2008 11:06 AM
Sarah,
My compliments for taking time out to write something that's not the norm on this blog.
Ya'll just made an insta-fan out of me.
-preetam
Posted by: preetam | May 22, 2008 11:25 AM
Don't forget about games and social media and social change - more info here: Game Changers
Posted by: Lucy Bernholz | May 22, 2008 11:32 AM
heads up for interested folks. our company aggregates charity auctions into one marketplace- www.biddingforgood.com. today we have 10,000 items up and so far we've helped raise over $44million for good causes.
the benefit for the consumer is you get great stuff (often at decent value) and it all supports good causes. you can search by geo, cause, or "red sox tickets".
never pay retail again!
Posted by: jon carson | May 22, 2008 1:58 PM
Let's stop talking about the tools, and let's use them!
Posted by: Joel | May 22, 2008 3:14 PM
Great info and great suggestions! I'll add one more to the list. If you're into photography check out Collective Lens where you can upload photos focused on social change. The photos also promote related nonprofit organizations so you're directed straight to how to get involved.
Posted by: bryan | May 22, 2008 8:47 PM
I really must say, that I learned very muh from you site or blog. For me a German in Thailand, it is hard to learn and understand social media, but your site is very very informative.
Posted by: Heinz | May 23, 2008 4:41 AM
Hi there, this is Claire from the American Red Cross. Thank you for posting this informative article. I'd also like to offer Jeremiah Owyang some kudos for the creative perspective in his blog posting about the vast number of people made homeless by the earthquake in China.
Social media users can make a difference for those in need.
www.ooyes.net/blog
Posted by: website design | May 23, 2008 6:22 AM
You hit the nail right on the head with this article by focusing on the use of "tools" that may have far reaching social affects. We constantly need reminders of what we can do to matter. I believe the only way one can "matter" in this world is by having an "ideal", a "purpose" in life. These are good tools to make it even easier to contribute in some way, however small or great.
Peter
http://webshopinabox.peter-tashjian.com/WebShopInABox.htm
Posted by: Peter T Webshop | May 23, 2008 8:09 AM
Since Sarah did link to my blog post on this, I'll just say that this is a bit of apples and oranges comparison. Tech bloggers talk about tech, and Twitter is tech. Trying to compare that to social causes, as if that should have been the topic of discussion *rather* than Twitter, is of course not valid.
Otherwise, great post.
Posted by: David Risley | May 23, 2008 10:31 AM
Thanks for the mention of MobileActive.org, an all-volunteer community exploring how the most pervasive technology in the world -- mobile phones -- can be used for social change and social good.
We are actually hosting our annual conference later this year - http://mobileactive08.org -- and are looking for great people who are visionaries and innovators in this field to submit their ideas for sessions and showcase products and projects.
If you are one of those 'social mobile' visionaries and innovators, we'd love to hear from you. Please check out the Call for Your Expertise at http://mobileactive08.org.
And thanks again for the excellent summary of social media for social good!
Best, Katrin, MobileActive.org
Posted by: Katrin Verclas | May 24, 2008 6:06 AM
Thanks, Sarah! I'm in, too. Geeks and do-gooders are a perfect match :)
Posted by: Michelle Riggen-Ransom | May 24, 2008 7:29 AM
I'd totally like the idea of amazee.com - they are combining the idea of crowd sourcing with collaboration --> social collaboration.
You should check them out.
Posted by: Markus | May 24, 2008 9:45 AM
I think that sometimes the social change can come by making people aware of what's going on in their own back yard. A few folks around here joined me in starting to identify the issues here in Birmingham on a site called The Terminal. We think it's been successful in raising the awareness among a group of people that were not necessarily aware of what was going on around them.
When we talk about using this tool to impact change, we need to remember just how close that change needs to take place.
Posted by: Andre Natta | May 24, 2008 8:39 PM
Great article, Sarah. Not sure if you follow any of the major college football sites, but Fanblogs.com held a relief contest in which fans could donate to the Red Cross, IRC, or CARE and have their donations "credited" to their favorite college football team in the inaugural Fanblogs.com College Football Charity Bowl.
In 60 hours, college football fans raised over $20,000 dollars for disaster relief. More details are here: http://www.fanblogs.com/charity/007552.php and here: http://www.fanblogs.com/charity if you are interested.
Posted by: Kevin Donahue | May 25, 2008 4:46 AM
I think it is important to note one platform that was not mentioned in this post - JustMeans, the social media platform that rallies both companies and individuals around social responsibility.
http://www.justmeans.com
Posted by: Kevin Long | May 25, 2008 8:20 AM
I think that the social media, and blogs in particular, are becoming a more important part of global media consumption for Internet users than some traditional media channels.
Posted by: Kelly | May 25, 2008 11:54 PM
Hi Friends
India focused mission engaged in church planting, pastor training, education, and humanitarian efforts.
Cheer"s
church planting
Posted by: kemily | May 26, 2008 3:04 AM
Interesting article and some great examples of how to use social networks for change.
I posted some thoughts on how existing fund raising using face to face techniques is very limiting
http://szikszai.blogspot.com/2008/05/pressure-selling-techniques-and.html
- particularly in three ways
1. The person representing the Brand for the charity is not aligned to the charity - they are doing it for personal gain. Hard to build a connection with this.
2. It is a high pressure sell which does not connect the donator to the charity
3. My estimate is that at roughly 15% of the first year's donation is considered 'Cost of Sale' and does not go to the Charity. Hopefully there aren't residual payments.
I see some threads that could be tied together to make existing social networks really make a difference - but I don't think anyone has nailed it yet.
I am interested in working with Aid / Charity organisations to see if we can find another way for this to happen.
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Posted by: Mike | May 31, 2008 10:30 AM
Interesting points! This is a very interested area of study in my opinion, the growth of entirely online social action! Its something I'm exploring and am glad I stumbled upon your site!
Posted by: Matt Kushin | May 31, 2008 9:22 PM
I was recently inspired by the power of social media and have already started working on a nonprofit that uses social networking and other means to help bridge the communication gap between families in developed countries and families in developing ones, and help facilitate donations. We focus on helping one village called Palo Solo in Nicaragua, and plan to expand one village at a time. Please visit our page. We try to use all the free web tools out there to help spread our message...google sites, facebook, blogs, etc.
www.palosoloproject.org
Posted by: Francesco Mantica | June 5, 2008 2:48 PM