What is social media cooking up for charities?
Guest Blogger | 28 March 2010 | Blogs
It seems that everyone is now firmly on the social media bandwagon.
In a week when the co-founder of Facebook and brains behind Obama’s online election campaign announced his not-for-profit project Jumo, the UN appointed a new Social Media Envoy for Malaria, and London hosted the Social Media World Forum.
But how can charities use existing and new technology to make our virtual societies more charitable?
Advertisement
While Ushahidi’s interactive maps of emergency hotspots, updated via mobile phones and social media, are aiming to revolutionise relief efforts when disasters strike, a new video tool could potentially help humanitarian agencies broadcast live from the scene before the world’s media arrive on the scene. It could also change the face of reconstruction when the cameras leave.
Last week’s Social Media World Forum saw the launch of a new video application, which allows you to broadcast on social media sites in real time. It is like throwing Skype and Facebook in one pot, stirring it for a while, and then serving it up on demand to a world-wide audience of social media fans.
Read the full opinion piece Social media plays growing role in aid world on Reuters AlertNet by Kati Byrne, PR consultant, photographer and co-founder of DevelopingDreams.com.
About Guest Blogger