Much is made about the power that is available to social media because of the incredible number of people that can be mobilized around a thought, an idea, a mission or a cause. Through a plethora of tools available to us we find ourselves becoming involved with people we would otherwise in all likelihood never meet. We become involved, we laugh, we cry and every once in awhile we find we can be a part of making a change for some person.
This is what social media is about. It isn’t about the tools like Twitter or Facebook or Friendfeed. They only make it easier to be a part of something that is larger than ourselves. It gives us a window to a world we might have never seen, whether that window is halfway around the world or just down the road.
I might sometimes rail against this thing we call social media but that is only because of the way I see it being used; or misused. It also bothers me that an incredibly powerful movement is being sidetracked and sullied by things like who has the most followers or who has the most authority. You now what – Social Media doesn’t give a fuck.
It is about the people, the women, the men, the children. It is about using this incredible gift of technology to be able to effect a lasting change in the way we interact with each other. The way in which we can help each other out of the real goodness of our hearts and not for some kind of brownie points to be collected.
All this was going through my mind today after reading a post by David Armano on his blog Logic + Emotion about reaching out to the community to help a lady by the name of Daniella; and her three children. It was a simple enough call for help from a man who is well respected within the social media community and who has never asked for help of this kind before.
Yet here we had a woman who had left an abusive marriage but in the process had lost the family home and was basically destitute and David and his wife opened up their home to her – giving what little they had. From David’s blog because he says it better than I ever could
I’ve been at this blog for nearly 3 years now and have never asked for something like this—I hope I’ve earned enough trust to be able to ask something back from you. Above is a picture of Daniela and her family. Brandon, age 6, Daniela, age 9 and little Evelyn age 4. Daniela is divorcing her spouse after years of abuse. In recent years her mortgage went unpaid and she’s lost her house.
As of this moment, Daniela’s family is staying at our house and we are trying to help her find a one bedroom apartment for her family to live in. With Evelyn, her youngest having Down’s Syndrome and Daniela herself being a Romanian immigrant with very little family support she literally has no one to turn to. Except us (all of us).
Daniela cleans houses when she can leave her family. I’m not even going to tell you what she gets paid—it’s obscene. Right now her options are pretty limited, aside from an apartment, there is only a group shelter. Not very pretty.
What David has done is created a ChipIn account (which you can use PayPal with) called Daniella’s Apartment Fund to which if you feel so inclined can make a donation to. I have included the widget in this post or you can click through to David’s post with the widget. the amazing thing is that from the time the widget was first posted on January 6 until now the community has donated just over $14,000.00 with just 469 contributors (at the time of posting – hopefully those figures will change).
Here is the ChipIn widget
For me this is much more than just making a donation to help a woman who I have never met but desperately needs the help. For me this is what Social Media is all about – a community of people willing to believe in what one person says and help if for no other reason than they have been asked to.
Remember – it’s not the tools, it’s not the number of followers you have, it’s not the number of people you are following, it’s not the number of social networks you are a member of. Social Media is about us. It is about believing in making a change and using the united power of our voices to effect those changes.
Today 437 people made a change in the lives of a woman and her three children – what do you think we could do tomorrow?
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- We Need To Break The Circle Jerk That Social Media Is Becoming
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