NPtech

The Not So Hidden Politics of Class Online

For years, many people have been saying the Internet will be a “great social equalizer.” Give everyone access to technology, and differences in race, class, and income will give way to a stronger democracy, right? Not necessarily, says Net researcher danah boyd, speaking at last week’s Personal Democracy Forum in New York, boyd said that even among people with access to the Net, long-held social divisions of race, class, and income are starting to play out online, particularly among teens now starting to choose which social network they prefer.

 

Nonprofits Lead Way in Social Media Adoption

With more and more nonprofits friending and tweeting these days, perhaps it should be no surprise that nonprofit organizations have outpaced corporations and academic institutions in their adoption of social media, for the second year in a row, according to a new research out of Dartmouth University, “Still Setting the Pace in Social Media: The First Longitudinal Study of Usage by the Largest US Charities.”

 

Microsoft veterans aim to make philanthropy more personal

Two Seattle nonprofits Jolkona and SeeYourImpact recently launched to encourage a new generation of philanthropists by using mobile phones, social networking and online connections between donors and people in need. Each started by asking the same question: How could they involve more people, particularly the younger and less affluent, in philanthropy? Eventually they came to the same conclusion: More people would donate if they saw the difference even a small amount of money could make in another person's life.

 

The Extraordinaries: Will Microvolunteering Work?

The Extraordinaries is one of a number of newly hatched social-media enterprises that champion speedy cooperation. Their aim is to deliver microvolunteer opportunities to mobile phones that can be done on-demand and on-the-spot.  Charity meets brevity. Crowdsourcing for the common good. The jury is still out on whether these sites will have large, and long-lasting, effects. But the microvolunteerism movement is undeniable.