social networking

These days thanks to technology and social media, we can support a variety of philanthropic organizations and causes in a number of meaningful ways. The increasing popularity and integration of online mobilization allows us the luxury of participating in everything and anything with just one push of a computer button or by downloading the latest cause app to our smart phones. In retrospect, civic engagement has never been so easy—or so overwhelming—especially for Millennials.

From the younger generation’s perspective, things are looking a little bleak out in the world—you’ve got the Gulf oil spill, recession, melting glaciers, student loan debts, threats of terrorism and of course Lindsay Lohan’s latest court appearance to worry about. While these issues are by no means exclusive to any one generation, they are defining and life altering for those in the Millennial group. The predicament for today’s civic minded youth is not what to join, protest, support, vote for or donate to, but rather how to navigate all of these options and be socially engaged with the cause du jour.

What’s a Millennial to do?

Enter Splashlife—a new online membership network designed to empower Millennials and help them improve their lives and the lives of others. The free online platform hosts a number of tools, resources and peer-to-peer content on everything from restoring one’s financial health to tips for breaking into the media business. Members are encouraged to share information and to take action, whether it is in the form of creating a video promoting social good or registering to vote. Interaction and engagement are rewarded with “Splash points” that members can redeem for exclusive benefits, deals and discounts.

I know what you’re thinking, the last thing we need is another online network that you log onto once and never use again. As one who is bombarded on a daily basis with invitations to join new online sites and mailing lists, I felt the same way. That is, until I heard the creator of Splashlife, Melissa Helmbrecht speak at the National Conference on Citizenship’s (NCoC) Civic Innovators Forum. I signed up for Splashlife the very next day.

The platform just recently launched and already it’s causing ripples of its own among the younger generation. As Melissa explains it, “We are counting on the Rising Generation to solve our most serious social and economic challenges. [And] for the first time in human history, it is actually possible for millions of young people to unite and collaborate through the power of social networking and social media. It is time to harness this power to make a measurable difference. We are at the very early stages of building something that can provide support to millions of young Americans. Those who join us early will help shape it. It is an exciting moment to be a part of it.”

Melissa herself is another integral part of Splashlife and a reflection of the opportunities and challenges that face the Millennial generation. She is a social entrepreneur in her own right, having founded a youth-focused nonprofit called Champions of Hope Inc. as well as United Day of Service in partnership with Youth Service America. Looking at this person standing so self-assured at the podium, I would never have guessed that medical debt would have at one time forced her to have to beg for money outside a metro station—just so she could travel to a service conference at which she was speaking.

For Melissa, this day was transformative and led to the development of Splashlife. She knows from personal experience that there are, “millions of young people who are struggling today [who] also have the power to achieve their dreams and make a difference in the world around them. But they need help. They can't do it alone.” She offers others this piece of advice, “get skills, meet people, make a difference.”

Melissa’s words are echoed in Splashlife’s mantra, “Be More,” “Do More” and “Score More.” Splashlife speaks to the holistic and individualized experience that members of this generation seek. This movement towards incentivizing service acts and creating online calls-to-action to both cultivate and sustain engagement is not new, but it is gaining traction in the nonprofit sector. I believe Splashlife is a sign of things to come in terms of successful Millennial engagement. See what others are saying about Splashlife on Twitter and Facebook.

How about you... Do you think this new network can deliver in terms of motivating and empowering the younger generation? Does the platform and system of incentives inspire you to take action?  I guess the only question left is—are you going to join?

Feeling much like an entry in the entertaining “Worst-case Scenario” survival guides, I was faced with my very own online life-or-death challenge the other day—whether or not to friend my mother on Facebook. I remember logging on to the popular social networking site and wondering just who was behind the harmless little red notification flag that serves as an alert for new Friend Requests. I soon discovered, with what can only be described as a mixture of shock and chagrin, that it was my very own mother. Instantly, my entire Facebook life passed before me—every photo, every comment and every video. You get the idea.

Where do you draw the line with connections on social networking sites?

At this point, the “Ignore” button was looking increasingly attractive. Fortunately, I’ve never been one to over share so I soon realized that this situation might not end so badly. After all, Facebook has privacy protections and I can be selective about what I do and do not share. Choosing to look at the bright side and pushing aside any lingering thoughts about potentially embarrassing content, I hit “Confirm” and posted a welcome message on my mom’s wall.

At the end of the day I emerged with one more friend, but my online world would never be the same. Before this experience, Facebook represented a familiar online space where I went daily to see what my friends were up to, to post something entertaining from LOL Cats or to read the latest news from the Case Foundation (yes, that was a shameless plug). Things change though when familiar relationship roles are abandoned and the traditional rules no longer apply.

The reality is that social networking sites are rewriting the rules of etiquette, relationships and even friendships. This evolution of how we interact with one another will be particularly challenging in the coming years as different generations intersect in the online space. A recent study from the Pew Research Center revealed that while young adults still dominate the online space, older Internet users are growing exponentially. According to Pew, “Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled—from 22% in April 2009 to 42% in May 2010.”

I have to wonder how my own mom, and those who didn’t grow up with computers and social networking as part of their daily lives feel about the ongoing shift in technology and communications. With this growing rate of online use across age groups, the question now becomes whether or not we will merge together or collide when we meet at this important online intersection. To be sure, it's a tough intersection to find... my mom and I will see you there!

From what I can tell, the level of caution about how much personal information we share online seems to be roughly correlated with the number of candles on our cakes. Forgive the generalizations, but most Millennials are largely unconcerned with censoring the personal information they put online - often to the point of oversharing - because they assume most of it will be forgotten, and who really cares anyway? Most Gen Xers and Boomers, on the other hand, are wringing their hands and shaking their heads over the school admissions decisions and employment opportunities that are being lost every day as Millennials seem to post every controversial opinion, irresponsible photo and awkward relationship drama they can come up with. And don’t even get my mom started on identity theft.

While many in this latter group thought (or hoped) this social network sharing was just a phase, technology experts now predict that getting older will not discourage Millennials from continuing to share information online. The experts once thought our nearly constant use of Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms was a passing fad, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that 895 technology experts surveyed by Pew Research Center and Elon University say it’s here to stay.

It seems likely that instead of abandoning our online tools, Millennials’ use of social media will continue to mature with us. We’ll increasingly use our presence on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to build (rather than undermine) our careers and social circles. As for that the fear that an employer or colleague might see an embarrassing twitpic, an incriminating wall post or something else overly personal - it will likely fade as everyone gradually (probably some generations more gradually than others) realizes no one is immune to embarrassing moments online, and it’s not the type of thing that will make and break careers.

But what would a debate be without a dissenting opinion? While a smaller contingent than a few years ago, still nearly 30 percent of Pew’s experts warn that the consequences of our online oversharing (which one called an upcoming “social media hangover”), along with other interests and demands on our time, will lead Millennials to pull back much of our online personalities. At the same time, Mitch Joel suggests on his blog that people are already gravitating in significant numbers toward tools that allow them to keep their anonymity, like Chatroulette, Formspring and Second Life. These tools still provide connection and person-to-person interaction, but give users the added comfort of being anonymous, if they want it, and that, Joel says, encourages content you won’t find on less anonymous platforms.

This potential trend toward sharing less about who we really are online is in many ways reminiscent of how many first started interacting online, in AOL chat rooms. We talked to strangers online about sports, relationships, politics and other shared interests, but the cardinal rule was to keep your real name, where you live and other personal information private. Newer waves of online interaction pushed us to trade in screen names like luvsdogs21 for our real identities, and now we may have reached a point of peak transparency and authenticity. If the dissenting experts are right and people continue to revert back to more anonymous social sites in greater numbers, will we see an emerging cycle of anonymity and oversharing online?

The opinion is still split over what the consequences of putting our identities online will be, but I have to agree with the majority on this one. I respect people’s need for anonymity and I’ll admit I’ve learned some things about a few of my Facebook and Twitter friends that I wish I hadn’t, but generally I’m still resistant to the call for anonymity and limited sharing online. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If we’re not willing to connect with people we don’t already know in real life and we’re not willing to express our opinion (and claim it) and we’re not willing to share some of the little bits and quirks that make us human, then we’re missing a lot of what social networking has to offer. Building the connections and trust that leads to collaboration, partnership, favors, employment, and other opportunities requires us to give up anonymity and own who we are online and offline.

Where do you think we're headed with anonymity and oversharing online?

This morning I was in a cab on my way to the airport when I decided to quickly scroll through my email and Twitter feed to see what I might miss while on the five hour flight from DC back to San Francisco. It was very rainy this morning when my plane took off -- nothing like the September 11, that I remember while working on Capitol Hill back in 2001. The sun was beaming off of the Capitol dome and the clear blue skies created a surreal feeling as smoke from the Pentagon billowed in the distance.

The Septmber 11, digital archive is also using electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the history of September 11, and its aftermath.  It contains more than 150,000 digital items, including more than 40,000 first-hand stories, and more than 15,000 digital images.  For my sister-in-law, a first grade teacher in the Bronx,  a digital archive like this allows her to share stories with her students, many of whom are learning of the tragedy for the first time.

Yesterday I came across this charming video in which Graham Smith and his buddy Josh Baron set out on a Facebook road trip for a thesis project. The two traveled more than 1,800 miles in less than a week to explore how the friends made over a lifetime were more than a series of updates on Facebook. What Graham uncovers through this little exercise, is that communication through digital means can at times be limiting.

Whether its the widespread use of social media channels like Twitter and Facebook; the routine nature of publishing content straight from our phones; or the growing use of flipcams and digital cameras to capture moments in time – we are all susceptible to the 24-7 broadcast of our “on the record” lives.   What’s more, nearly everyone we interact with whether at work, in the grocery store, or on the metro can be considered a member of the newly defined social media “paparazzi.”

I’m not sure what it is about late April, but it seems to be the time of year to get excited about making the world a better place. This week commemorates Earth Day (April 22), World Malaria Day (April 25), and Global Youth Service Day (April 24-26). With all of the “days” this week there are plenty of opportunities to help your planet, your neighborhood, and your fellow man.

Whether you want to give back to your community, go green for mother Earth, or help save lives by fighting malaria, there are lots of opportunities to see how social media can make it easier for people to give, get involved and organize. A few interesting examples:

Earth Day: If there was any doubt about it, Earth lovers are on the web. If Mother Earth were on twitter I think she could give Ashton Kutcher a run for his money.
The SocialButterfly blog points out that there were 88,000 blog posts on Earth Day, 10 percent of which were from Bloggersunite.org, which tries to coordinate bloggers to raise awareness about various causes. YouTube, Sun Chips and others created a new YouTube channel, Live Green, with a plethora of videos from different outlets and partners, which range from the strictly instructional to the entertaining, showing people how to make small changes to live more green lifestyle. Brighter Planet created an earthtweet tweet-a-thon to help build buzz around Earth Day by having individuals share how they are doing their part to save the planet – in 140 characters or less. 
 
World Malaria Day: Besides the obvious attention around Ashton Kutcher, his race to a million followers, and (oh yeah) his pledge to donate 10,000 bed nets, other individuals are using social media to promote awareness and raise funds to eradicate malaria, with even Ted Turner getting in on the action. The World Malaria Day website includes interactive features that allow users to add events, news items, and success stories or send postcards to friends and family to spread the word. And Malaria No More is using a text to give campaign to make it easy for anyone to contribute $5 for life-saving bed nets. (just text NET to 90999).

Global Youth Service Day: With millions of young people participating in local community service projects in 100 countries, Youth Service America had a lot of coordinating to do. Fortunately, they are benefitting from the passion and social media savvyness of millenials. Global Youth Service Day has an active Ning site championed by Miley Cyrus with video and photo sharing, blog posts, and 100 Ways to get involved.  Usher, not to be outdone, sent a text to 21,000 fans to encourage them to register for a service event. 

What creative ways are you leveraging technology and social networks to organize during one of this week's "days" dedicated to giving back? And by next April, how will we be even better at organizing online?
 

Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve titled this post the name of the book my mom says she’s going to write one day.  But since I’ve lived through about 30 years of listening to the great titles of the wonderfully inspirational books my mom was going to write, I don’t think I’m blowing anything here by sharing with you what she would have included.

The beauty of the social web is deeply rooted in the fact that everyone can contribute, everyone can share, and everyone can have an opinion. But, let’s get something straight – not EVERYONE can be an expert.  An incredible number of these so-called social media experts have emerged in the past few months (or perhaps I'm just paying closer attention), but I have to start questioning – who are the real leaders in this new, largely uncharted, and rapidly evolving social media territory? And perhaps more importantly, who can we trust?