I have many friends and colleagues that will not participate in Social Media. I hear all their reasons and many are valid. But what if you use Twitter, Facebook and Linked In to connect people to the needs of their community?
I am a Twitter neophyte. I follow a group of active “tweeps” who seem busy, not just chatting, but raising awareness and sometimes money for local causes. I follow, Erica Mayer and she runs a “water campaign” in a fun and effective way. I clicked over to read about the organization and person who motivated her to start her charity water campaign.
I started to follow @TCManWalking and got to his website. His story, his courage and passion are amazing. Chris is currently without permanent shelter, or a job. While managing a very severe situation, he created this website in hopes of forming a network of people and organizations dedicated to serving this vulnerable population in the Twin Cities.
His request for water and reusable bottles has been pushed completely through social media. He inspired me to test my network. Do my “friends” and “followers” really have a connection to me? Yes. I’ve been overwhelmed by the support of friends, neighbors and professional colleagues. I am excited to provide some very basic needs to people in our community who are homeless.
It is true you can spend hours on Facebook doing some really silly things. Reconnecting with old friends and colleagues is fun. The introduction to new people, places and things is inadvertently creating a new level of civic awareness. Social Media may be the catalyst that connects people to their community in new, fresh and sometimes basic ways. That is a good thing, right?
Thanks for the replies! I just found out that there is a nationwide campaign using social media to focus on homelessness. The link is here: http://www.pitchengine.com/free-release.php?id=76950 When he comes to St. Paul he will be interviewing TCManwalking about his water drive here.
Thanks for the info on Third Place, Nate and great perspective.
Just posted this tonight on Facebook and have been getting some good conversation going. Interesting too, because some of it is with folks from my very first online community I belonged to: Readerville.com (and an ex-boyfriend). Facebook often makes for intriguing comments.
Wendy,
Wendy, thank you for the post.
My friends at The Third Place (http://the3rdplace.ning.com/) turned me on to this Robert Putnam quote:
“The key is to find ways that the Internet reinforces rather than replaces place-based face to face social networks.”
I attended the Epcon conference not all that long ago, and – being a Tweep myself – really enjoyed the conversation within the conversation that was going on in Twitter. For those of us who are inclined, when social media enhances the conversations and relationships we have elsewhere, it enriches our lives.
For someone to say, “I think Social Media is a waste of time,” is simply to not understand its power, or to simply not be inclined to dig deeper, which is a failure endemic amongst our race and as ancient as society itself.
Thanks Wendy. I applaud your efforts. I really like how your daughter participated too by raising money with a lemonade stand.