Trend Watch: Change the World One Blog Post at a Time
By Halogen TV | July 28, 2009 at 10:12 am
Mashable’s Josh Catone highlights ways online social networking can create tangible good. His post, “10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media,” is a collaboration between Mashable’s Summer of Social Good charitable fundraiser and Max Gladwell’s “10 Ways” series.
Since social media is all about connecting people, it makes sense that it would be a powerful platform for information which would fuel change. Here are 10 ways he recommends using platforms you use every day to change the world for good.
1. Write a Blog Post
“Because your friends or readers already trust you, what you say is influential,” Josh writes. So blog about causes you’re passionate about and arm your readers with actions they can take to join you in your mission. Josh says join in on Oct. 15 for Blog Action Day, an annual event where bloggers pledge to write at least one post about a specific social cause (last year’s topic was poverty).
2. Share Stories with Friends
Post what you’re reading on sites Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg and email. When you share information, awareness about your cause increases. You never know what will connect with someone else.
3. Follow Charities on Social Networks
Support charities through social networks where they are active. It’s a great way to stay plugged into what they’re doing. When they post information about a campaign or a cause, share it with your network by blogging or retweeting.
4. Support Causes on Awareness Hubs
Rally around causes that interest you on awareness hubs like Change.org, Care2, or the Facebook Causes application. These are specifically built with non-profits in mind. They offer special tools and opportunities for charities to spread awareness of issues, take action and raise money.
5. Find Volunteer Opportunities
Use online media to help connect you with offline opportunities to volunteer and make a difference. Some recommended sites are VolunteerMatch, which has almost 60,000 opportunities listed, and Idealist.org, which also lists paying jobs in the non-profit sector, in addition to maintaining databases of both volunteer jobs and willing volunteers. HelpInDisaster.org is a site which helps register and educate those who want to help during disasters.
6. Embed a Widget on Your Site
Badges or widgets generally serve one of two purposes: they raise awareness of an issue and link to additional information. They can also be used to raise money.
7. Organize a Tweetup
Another way to use online media for your offline world is to organize “tweetups,” a meeting that gathers together like-minded people to raise awareness, raise money or just talk about what’s important to you. “Getting people together offline to learn about an important issue can really kick start the conversation and make supporting the cause seem more real,” Josh writes. See Mashable’s guide to organizing a tweetup.
8. Express Yourself Using Video
Use sites like 12seconds.tv, Vimeo and YouTube to easily record and spread your thoughts about causes and issues close to you. The web is a visual medium so take advantage of it. If you just want to watch videos, Givzy.com allows you to raise funds for charities like Unicef and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by sharing videos by email.
9. Sign or Start a Petition
The social web has increased the reach and power of petitioning. A number of petition creation and hosting web sites exist, like The Petition Site, which is operated by the social awareness network Care2, or PetitionOnline.com, which has collected more than 79 million signatures over the years. “Petitions are extremely powerful, because they can strike a chord, spread virally and serve as a visual demonstration of the support that an issue has gathered.” Also check out Twitition, an application that allows people to create, spread and sign petitions via Twitter.
10. Organize an Online Event
Online events like free form fundraising drives or organized “tweet-a-thons” can be a powerful tool for change as well. Josh says earlier this year a campaign to raise money for a crisis center in Illinois last month took in over $130,000 in just two weeks. The 12for12k group, aims to raise $12,000 each month for a different charity through tweet-a-thons.
Bonus: Think Outside the Box
There are no rules or limits to how the web and social media can be used for good. Josh says think outside the box to come up with all sorts of innovative ways to raise money or awareness for a charity or cause. “When Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer, for example, he created Blame Drew’s Cancer, a campaign that encourages people to blow off steam by blaming his cancer for bad things in their lives using the Twitter hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer. Over 16,000 things have been blamed on Drew’s cancer, and he intends to find sponsors to turn those tweets into donations to LIVESTRONG once he beats the disease.”
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