The power of Social media and a NYC storm

This week a devastating storm hit New York City.  Unfortunately for me, it was right outside my front door and to see my place of refuge and emotional attachment changed in a matter of 10 minutes,well, it's very sad. 

But besides dealing with the emotion of the huge loss, I put on my social media hat and jumped into action and started taking load of photos.  I was at the "ground-zero" of the storm and this type of response to an event, is what makes social media so powerful. You don't have to wait a day or a week. Amazingly we report in real time, even before the reporters got there. As a matter of fact, I had already posted a photo of the damage an hour after it happened and not one reporter was to be found. They must of picked up my photo in my twitpic post or someone else's, and decided to show up when the next shift began, at 6am. 

And thinking about how powerful our collective presence is, I can't help but to think of helicopter/plane crash over the Hudson that happened August 8th. Although there is a backlash on youtube about the gory video posting, it provided necessary details to the press and NTSB.  

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool. Yes, there are misleading and false stories that can do damage. There will always be the few that ruin it for the many. But in the hands of honest folks, we, as a collective community,  are changing the way in which almost all information is obtained, viewed and disseminated.  And that's pretty powerful.

An appropriate little plug. Central Park could really use your help.

The summer of social media for social causes

My volunteer vacation in Costa Rica is just 2 weeks away and besides dreaming of the beautiful, tiny Pacific coastal village that consists of 200 hundred people and a bunch of turtles and eggs that need to be saved, I'm actually rather excited to be hands-on and involved in really making a difference. It feels good to do something. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as living in an isolated corner of Costa Rica, you can do so much good right from your little laptop.

To get you started, I got some great links that will help you make a change in someone else's life:

Start with Beth's Blog. She is the guru for nonprofits in social media.

Join in the on the twestival which hopes to be the biggest fundraising event in history.

Want to change something, raise awareness, take action? Go to change.org

Gotta cause? Get it up on Facebook. They really make it so easy and provide great resources for fundraising.

Nothing like video to communicate a compelling story. Youtube has video volunteers and a nonprofit program that will help you get your message out to the world's largest online video community.

And just because I love this terrific charity, Kiva, I'm giving it a plug hear. Hey, that's another simple way of doing good. Give your favorite charity a mention and a link on your blog.

It doesn't take much to change the world. I'll be doing it one turtle egg at a time in just a short while. In the meantime, I'd love to hear about your favorite ways of using social media for a social cause.