It’s reassuring to know that many social media savvy people are applying what they’ve learned online to the real world, and developing clever reinforcements to do more. In particular, the gang over at Social Actions is taking intentional steps to bring the best of our thinking to bear. Their new initiative, Change the Web, launches today. But they need your help.
We want you to dream up a new tool to help people find and share actions. Any web enabled device can become a place to connect with actions: your iPhone, news sites and blogs, Facebook & other social networks, or even in your own website!” Community members and a panel of judges will award $10,000 in cash to the best apps.
You can help Change the Web. Here’s how:
- Offer a smart idea that could leverage a database of 20,000 actions. It takes 2 minutes over at the Idea Hub.
- Better yet, submit a fully-baked idea to the contest. Make it tight by collaborating with smart people like yourself – including one or two smart developers who know what they’re doing. (You could even get people together to brainstorm.)
- Spread the word.
We live in an aware world. It’s high time we push for an aware web. Social Actions aggregates – literally – social actions & volunteer opportunities from more than 40 “do good” social networks, like Change.org, Kiva, GlobalGliving and Razoo.com. The world is our oyster.
The Extraordinaries is a major contender (assuming the organizations’ founders – Jacob Colker and Ben Rigby – will participate). The group has honed in on a mobile solution that allows busy people to take short, quick actions for good through their phones.
That’s one idea. Here’s another: A clearinghouse of actions that is portable and accessible through my preferred website, filters news and actions most meaningful to me, keeps track of my portfolio and serves as my broker. It would be a tricked out Guidestar – with flames and hydrualics. Open Social for the do good socnets.
As part of the contest, Social Actions is hosting “Change the Web Conversation Series,” open online chats about how specific technology platforms can be used for good. The series kicks off this Thursday with Using Facebook for Social Change featuring Susan Gordon, Nonprofit Coordinator of Facebook Causes. Future convos will focus on Mozilla, iPhones, OpenSocial and Twitter for good, among others.
Livingston Communications is joining Change the Web as a media sponsor, along with CauseWired Communications, Mashable, NTEN, Ode Magazine, Osocio, ProgrammableWeb, Replyforall, See3 Communications, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Techvibes. The contest is hosted by NetSquared, sponsored by PayPal, Convio, TakePart, Challenge Your World and technology partners Mozilla and WordPress.
Helpful links:
- Contest homepage
- Submit your idea at NetSquared
- Developer Resources
Winners will be announced at NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco on April 28, 2009.
We hope you’ll join us in spreading the word. Better yet, submit your brilliant ideas.
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