Social Media for Social Good

Social networking now accounts for 11 percent of all time spent online in the US.

Twitter’s audience growth occurred during the first few months of 2009 – at one point jumping from 4 million visitors to 17 million visitors between February and April.

One in four (25%) US Internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up 83% from 13.8% in December 2008.

(Source: The 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review by comScore)

Those are just a few of the statistics on how social media use has boomed in the past year. Social media fits perfectly into the lifestyles of today’s fast-paced citizens, as 3G technology becomes more readily available, and as the media takes a turn to be more consumer-centric.

Different people use social media for various reasons, including to keep in touch with old friends, to meet people with similar interests, to gain new information and news, for business purposes, as well as to create awareness and rally support for a certain cause.

The topic at SMCKL #4 last week was on using social media for social good. The speakers, Datin Paduka Marina Mahatir, Niki Cheong, and Hakim Albasrawy shared inspiring insights with the audience on how social media has been a useful avenue for them in gaining support for various causes (read more here).

(Source: SMCKL Facebook photos)

Although using social media for charity has been around for some years now, it is increasingly being used today, as more people hop onto the social media bandwagon. Moreover, it presents the element of personal touch, thus reinforcing trust, as the activist is able to communicate with people who are interested, in contrast to when help is solicited through more traditional means, such as reading about a cause in the newspapers or watching it on television.  It is also more convenient and is a great way to complement existing social work.

There are many ways social media can be used for social good. One amazing example which was highlighted by Alex in his blog post, Helping the Homeless via Social Media, introduces to us InvisiblePeople.tv, a website by Mark Horvath, who himself was once homeless. Today, he ventures the streets to speak to the homeless, telling their stories through his camera lens.

From Alex’s blog:

So, how exactly does Mark use social media? Sites that are frequently updated include: his blog, Twitter, Facebook, Whrrl, MySpace, YouTube, uStream, Vimeo and Flickr. They serve as his own broadcasting channels to reach out to the public and update them on-the-go. Through the true-to-life updates, he has caught the attention of many and this has served to further propagate the message and his mission.

Stats to date: CNN reports more than 1,000 videos are watched per week on the Vimeo channels and the project has more than 10,000 followers on both his Twitter accounts (@hardlynormal and @invisiblepeople). Mark has been featured on Huffington Post, CNN and loads more media as a result of him being extremely social with a fantastic mission.

He’s raised sponsorship and donations from many companies amongst which are Ford, Hanes (they give out socks to the homeless) and Virgin Mobile. Truly, it’s a powerful testimony of how one man has shared the stories of hundreds of homeless people with the world and brought smiles to those who are in need.

Indeed, social media is an awesome tool through which we can give back to our communities.
To gain more insight on how social media can be used for social good, check out these articles:

• 10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media
• 5 Events That Have Used Social Media for a Good Cause.

“Imagine what the Web 2.0 community can do for these organizations. Blogs, web sites, pocket video cameras, and BlackBerries; as well as electronic and physical communities, everyone has the power to create powerful stories and intentional content that will spread into the world, raise awareness, and cause change.”
- Amanda Koster, photographer & founder of SalaamGarage.