Introduction

These are the four main issues we all face. They underlie other problems around the world such as health, education, housing, and they impact on each other. There are people around the world who are active in these areas but for these problems to be solved, many more people must get involved. Successful online social networks replicate the behaviour of real-life networks. They create value and purpose, and can bring people closer through a sense of belonging, and an easy means of communication.

This talk covers

• The ideas and online social technologies that empower people to work on global issues

Why don’t more people get involved?

Even if people are more aware and informed and can contribute easily, they still need to be motivated to do so. One way they become motivated is when they see the impact of these problems in their own lives or the environment. But many in the West don’t see this impact near enough to them. They see it in the media, but because it doesn’t affect them, they don’t feel the need to get involved.

• It’s not close/important enough in their lives.

How do we get more people involved?

There are opportunities for people to contribute, usually on a local level, for example, through charity work, recycling and other community efforts. Yet, not enough is being done, because these problems are huge. If the scientists are right, the impact of these problems on people’s lives will increase, and the closer it gets, the more people will want to do something about it.

• We need to get the problem ‘closer’ to people.

Why use online social networks?

In life people have family, friends and acquaintances, who come together in social networks. Each Of us create and receive value from these networks. These networks have a purpose, from the basic need to communicate, or to simply participate, to the more focused need to influence and change something. These networks are close to us because they have meaning for us. Successful online social networks replicate the behaviour of real-life networks. They create value and meaning, and they can bring people closer through a sense of belonging, and an easy means of communication.

• Online social networks can be used to promote contributions to global problems.

What is a social network?

For social networks to work online they must function the same way that social networks do offline. There are three basic requirements:

1. A real identity

Each of us has an identity that is easily recognized by our social contacts. This isn’t just our name and our ‘look’. It’s also what we do, where we live, what we think, and so on. A lot of this is background information that we store in our heads or in some note form. We continuously update our list of facts our contacts. As lives change, for example, addresses and phone numbers, friends, etc. we update our knowledge about them.

1. Easy communication

In real life social networks there is an easy-going form of communication. We ‘open-up’ to different degrees to various people, and they to us. We like to talk about ourselves, about other people, and about things that happen to us. The conversations we have can be thought of as ‘micro-socializing’ – short sentences, glances, gestures, are all forms of short messages.

1. Easy filtering

In our social circles, there is an automatic filtering mechanism that works. We have an understanding among friends and acquaintances that says what can and can’t be revealed about other people.

For examples see:

www.HelpWorldClimate.com www.HelpWorldPoverty.com www.HelpWorldPeace.com www.HelpWorldWildlife.com