Social Networking for social good?

I was just watching a French popper-break dancer called Salah strut his stuff on stage. He is an amazing dancer and a performer and most of the time I was scraping my jaw off the floor at his talent. And while I was doing this it occurred to me that if not for face book and you tube, I would have never stumbled on to this guy or seen his talent. Its really amazing how the borders and limits on knowledge has changed. 

Causes

Today we are literally in the drivers seat, accessing what we want, when we want. There was nothing, I mean absolutely nothing like that when I was born. Considering we were late in catching up with the first world countries, that is still barely three decades of progress to this height. Whether it is good or bad for us in the long run is an question that I don't want to debate here. But things have changed irrevocably for us all. Little known places and people are suddenly now reaching the far corners of the world through face book share and other social networking tools. 

I am sharing this French guy's video with my friends on face book, who are scattered all over the world and may have never seen this type of dancing before. Some of them will like this video and share it further with their friends. Imagine the network made available to this guy's video because of my one little mouse click. 

 

Jumo

It is true that we still have huge problems in the world, including poverty, war, hunger, natural disasters and so many things that need to be addressed and solved, despite our progress. But surely this connectivity is also touching and changing the way we solve these problems as well? Isn't it the prefect tool for fighting the evil, propagating a cause and letting the world know what lies beyond the glitz and glamor of the upper crust? If I can use this connectivity to share videos and stories of what is happening in our rural communities, spread the word of what needs done and how one can help, in think we can put this power to good use. To quote Spider-man, "with great power comes great responsibilities". 

The flip side it are the socially helpful social networking sites that are also making quite a bit of money for themselves. Sites like Jumo, Causes, Crowdrise are social networking platforms built to help non-profit organizations raise fund or get support for their causes and projects. But these sites also charge a sweet little fee for all their services. Which may not be bad if the overall financial support received is good. But a large number of people from the non-profit organizations also feel that this may actually backfire on the cause of social responsibility in social networking.

The fear is that people may feel that by donating their obligation to the society is over. Many people compare it to Carbon Offsets, bought by corporates to weasel their way out of paying for the environmental damage caused by their business. As far as using social network for social good is concerned, it might be better if it used to bring people closer to the cause, informing people of the reality, for gathering support for petition, organizing a marathon etc. All these will help people come together for social good rather then simple offload their extra change for the feel good factor.