Social Media for the Social Good
As social media expands, its influence continues to grow. I may only be twenty three years old, but I simply cannot keep up with it all. Just when I finally understood the allure of instagram, I was told about how Pinterest was so much better. Google+ is far more interactive than Facebook is, but I still cannot get the hang of all its features. In spite of my technological shortcomings, I was still excited to have been invited to the Social Good Summit in New York City.
Now in its third year, the Social Good Summit will be hosted in over 100 countries and for the first time, the New York City meet-up was live-streamed and translated into six languages. For three days, speakers demonstrated various ways technology can promote charity, activism and social justice. Computer scientist Rebecca Moore showed how her software Google Earth Outreach uses mapping tools to visualize environmental problems around the world. Non-profits and NGOs are creating apps for everything including raising money to political campaigning.
I sat in the audience, listening to all of these amazing people talk about how their innovations are changing the world and I thought to myself, “What the hell is little old me doing here?” Black with the Blues is still in its infancy and I am not technology savvy. I walked in open minded but was skeptical about whether I would able to appreciate the vast information being shared. I then realized that I did not need to know how to use Google Apps to recognize how it can be advantageous for small businesses. Technology is a tool that can fundamentally transform how we confront problems in the world.
Say all you want about millennials, but we are arguably more creative in the way we communicate. As a blogger, I am always challenged with how effective I am with conveying my ideas and overall message. More importantly, bloggers and all social media enthusiasts have to figure out how to make information accessible to as many people as possible. If we use our collective technologies to bond together online, we can take that knowledge and bring forth change offline. And that is something I can understand.