Samantha Power’s gone social
Everyone loves a new Facebook friend. Ok, technically this is a Facebook like, but play along. Today, at 3:15 PST (6:15 EST), U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power is leading a Facebook and Twitter chat (from Facebook’s headquarters) to discuss the impact people can have in their local communities. We already love Samantha Power so […]
Why Jillian and her friends are standing for nothing
At the start of the week, we asked our supporters to enter a Stand for Nothing contest. The phrase has become a bit of a mantra around our office during our current fundraising campaign for #zeroLRA. Nothing is zero, so we’re standing for it – no child soldiers, no killing, and no war. We tasked […]
CONTEST: #40Chances in 40 countries
Storytellers often find inspiration in the strangest places. For Howard G. Buffett, inspiration came during a talk at a farm-equipment store in Illinois 12 years ago. During the talk, an agriculture expert told the audience that most farmers can expect 40 growing seasons, giving them 40 chances to improve every harvest. This struck a cord […]
Social media in the space
The world’s newest social media celebrity hasn’t been on the planet in nearly five months. Despite this, his Twitter feed has gone viral, surpassing well over 600,000 followers. The key to his success? His tweets are literally out of this world. The man behind the tweets is Canadian astronaut Chris Hartfield. He became the first Canadian Commander of […]
Results from social activism // a statistical recap
One would think using social platforms to propel social progress would be second nature to a culture where social media is becoming the primary way to connect with people. With the success of the recent Human Rights Campaign avatar takeover–which caused Facebook to see a 120% increase in profile photo updates– and as we’ve seen through the impact […]
#KONY2012 told through tweets
March 5th marks the one year anniversary of the release of KONY 2012. Within one week, the film was viewed over 100 million times, making it the most viral video in history. The hashtag #KONY2012 was used 3,290,800 times between February 11th and March 11th. On March 7th alone, the hashtag was used 1,594,812 times. In honor of […]
State of the [interactive] Union
I love politics almost as much as I love technology but I’d be naive if I said either were perfect. If you watched last year’s presidential debates, or have seen the disturbing amount of cat videos on YouTube, you know exactly what I’m talking about. However, both play a crucial role in our society and in the […]
Top 25 most connected World Leaders on Twitter
The UK Deputy Prime Minister recently wrote in The Guardian: “Twitter has given me a voice and a connection to millions of people that the distorted prism of the mainstream media denied.” We may or may not use Twitter for that exact reason too, Prime Minister. Twitter has become a new way to communicate with world leaders […]
One billion strong for World Humanitarian Day
Mission accomplished. The UN asked for your participation in yesterday’s World Humanitarian Day, and one billion people around the world took part. People tweeted their promise to do something good in their community, basically punching selfishness in the face. Some of the top supporters included internationally-known brands like Coca Cola and MTV and celebrities like Shakira, […]
Impact of the internet
Remember when Twitter recently crashed for what felt like an eternity? It was more along the lines of a few hours, but in cyberspace, hours of silence can easily seem like a lifetime. Moral of the story: the internet has become more important than ever, and it’s important to acknowledge the growing sense of community. […]