What are we doing all of this for?
Is our only purpose for collecting an audience to be popular and feed our ego?
Is a business only concerned with its audience to the extent that it can sell products or services?
Can’t we do better than obsessing over traffic, followers, likes and Klout scores?
I think we can!
What do you care about?
Even the most jaded among us care about something. And for those of us lucky enough to have built an audience, there is more to earning that attention than making money.
Think about the power we now have with social tools.
- It’s not enough to simply view these tools through the lens of a business, constantly chasing dollars.
- It’s not enough to see it as being a cool, new way to share baby photos with our friends and family.
- It’s not enough to simply entertain ourselves.
What is Possible?
The power of social media is nothing short of revolutionary.
Social tools represent an unprecedented opportunity to spread information globally, to create an expanded consciousness about ideas that benefit all of humanity.
On the small scale, it’s collecting small donations from a large number of people to benefit real world problems, like cancer or homelessness. On the larger scale, social tools create the opportunity for full scale movements to occur. See: Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement.
The Hurdles
So here are the reasons why more people and companies don’t use their reach for social good.
- Putting yourself out there means you have to take a position on something.
- We all fear the possibility that no one cares so instead we do nothing.
Shed Your Fear, Do Something Extraordinary
Aside from the obvious results that we are all chasing, making an impact on something important is one of the most incredible possibilities of the social revolution.
So here are your calls to action. Don’t fall victim to apathy and inaction, you must do one of these things today:
A) Watch the following video and contribute to this cause if you believe it worthwhile.
This video shook me to the core. It is fascinating. Take 22 minutes to learn about how you can help a cause that affects all humankind. This is about more than climate change, so even if you don’t actually believe in climate change, this is worth a watch.
Contribute here: http://www.savoryinstitute.com/donate/
B) Find something that you believe in, and use your visibility and reach to mobilize your audience for something that you think matters.
Take a position. Be willing to live with the consequences of that position. Choose wisely.
We believe in using the reach of social media for business, and we also believe in the incredible power it has to affect and enrich personal relationships, but we also believe that we have a responsibility to capitalize on the opportunity that social media presents to improve the world in some way.
Please get involved in something today. Whichever you do, A or B, put it in the comments and let us know.