Who Are the Real-World Social Media Heroes?
In 2006, Time Magazine named us as “. . . an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it’s just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.”
This morning, listening to the cars on the wet pavement outside my window, as I consider requests for real-world causes, I’m thinking about what we’re doing with that explosion of innovation Time magazine described and the opportunity they saw within it.
This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It’s a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who’s out there looking back at them. (Time Magazine)
Oh yeah, we’re doing lots of that, but have we lost track of how few of us there are and how small our conversation really is?
Few people in the cars driving by think or care about the words flying from my computer to yours. But I care and I know that if you’re reading this, you probably care too.
It’s awfully fun to explore these innovate tools of communication, but the truth is Internet tools aren’t much if they can’t fix problems the Internet didn’t cause.
Some folks never missed that point from the start. They’re not the ones who are always quoted. You can’t measure their success in followers. They’re the ones with their feet on the ground.
Let’s celebrate the folks who are using social media tools to change lives and businesses slowly, solidly in concrete and lasting ways. They’re the ones who are changing the world.
I’ve started a list with those three: Beth Kanter, Robyn McMaster, and JP Rangaswami. Who are the real-world social media heroes you see? Who are the folks using the tools to make a difference in the world?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
