Lesson 1: I must give to end up receiving

So here I am. One month after I'd begun lurking around social media sites and having passionate (but probably scattered) chats with not-for-profits, writing my first post on what will hopefully be a blog that:

a) is a practical experiment on my hypothesis that: social causes can benefit most from the use of social media by

- increasing the reach of their programs

- mobilising groups of empowered people

-empowering those who don't feel like they have control over their lives with a powerful (and anonymous) tool that makes them feel connected and increase self worth.

- connecting their stakeholder groups who have similar motivations to challenge eachothers perspectives

b) teaches me something about myself and my ability to use social media to learn from and influence others.

The penny dropped this morning. It came after yesterday's deep delving on the web to find precendents for my hypothesis and the spinning of ideas that resulted from that, abliet unfulfilling search.

...stage left (penny dropping and spinning on wooden floor)...

I must start giving. Start being part of the conversation. Start my own conversation. Challenge others with perspectives and ideas and most of all, trawl for compelling examples where not for profits have used collaborative web tech to compound the positive effects for their social programs.

So this is number 1.

And I better follow it up by giving something other than the meanderings of my potentially menstrual mind.

So Google Earth Outreach have developed an add on to their popular Google Earth application

Google Earth Outreach gives non-profits and public benefit organizations like yours the knowledge and resources you need to reach their minds and their hearts: See how other organizations have benefited from Google Earth Outreach, then learn how to create maps and virtual visits to your projects that get users engaged and passionate about your work.

One example I've picked is:

Earth Outreach KML: Global Giving
Author: GlobalGiving
In this KML produced by GlobalGiving (an organization that connects potential donors to projects), you can view the locations and details of programs taking place around the world. What we really like about this file, is the geographical connection to where problems are occurring - and what can be done to help.

Using the Google Earth platform, organisations can increase the global and local reach of their programs, engage more donors and potentially use it to partner with other community providers in the area.

How can we apply it to your organisation?

It seems a natural fit for environmental causes wanting to visualise the effects of, for example, logging....

Can you think of a way to appropriate the use of this application to increase the impacts for your cause?

Would love your thoughts, comments, rants.

Wow, first post done. Feels good.

:)