Acting Out: Use of Social Media

Traditionally, many people have used big-name nonprofit organizations as a way of donating to specific social causes.Others have tried to get a little more hands-on through volunteering a couple days a year or maybe finding an occupation that allows them to work with a specific people group or cause such as the mentally ill and/or homeless. Unfortunately, all too often, we simply choose to look the other way when faced with such issues in our own cities or neighborhoods.

The introduction of the Internet and social media has opened up an interesting new door for individuals to find ways of becoming active in a specific cause. Using outlets such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter can allow someone to become a voice for the voiceless in ways that have never been done before. Through the use of these media tools, individuals that may never have heard the stories of people in different situations from themselves that live in the very same community, can learn what the people behind the stereotype are really like. I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR this morning and heard about a man that is using these media tools to bring a voice to the homeless in the US through simple video interviews on his blog, http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/.

I find this to be a both fascinating and encouraging way to use the Internet and social media. Having been homeless himself, this man understood and sympathized with the situations of those that remained homeless around him. He started his blog in California and has since traveled around to other places in the US to interview people throughout the country. He is using a very simple tool, an interview, to allow these people to tell their story. His main motivation does not appear to have anything to do with getting donations, although he does have a link to allow individuals to do this if they so choose. You may have to search to find the link, however, as the main page is just the interviews that he collects and links to use social media to spread the word.

Admittedly, I have reservations about the use of blogs and the Internet as a means of attempting to report on news stories and issues by people without training or proper research. However, I truly feel that the way that this blog, http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/, has been set up by simply using interview style to allow others to just tell their stories, is a positive, beneficial way for individuals in society to report and use social media for the greater good. It makes me want to run out and buy a video camera myself. There are so many stories to be told....