#WewillGather

by Startacus Admin

In a cynical and reactionary world, it's often easy to react badly when something terrible or tragic happens.

Someone’s bullied on Facebook- it’s Facebook’s fault. The London Riots are arranged and instigated on Twitter and Blackberry (funny now to think that Blackberry was such a force only 12 months+ago) and it’s Twitter's and Blackberry’s fault for not shutting down their messaging services and platforms. A blame culture is after all, a little bit responsible for the “us and them” and the “don’t give a %&%£” attitude that has at times engulfed the society we live in. Or perhaps, just perhaps, we don’t value or recognise the good and the power of “social media”.

Dan Thompson started #riotcleanup on Twitter after the London Riots - a movement of people to literally clean the streets after the infamous riots that spread across the UK in 2011. Using social media for social good is the same philosophy behind #Wewillgather and encapsulates an attitude, a “we do give a &£%&” feeling that the mainstream media often only touches on or forgets about very quickly.

Getting people together to do good things is a key aim for #Wewillgather. You can either start a good thing for people to join , or you can join a good thing that is happening or about to happen. Sounds simple and by utilising Twitter to power the event or happening, each good thing has the power to become massive. It’s the same mindset, energy and approach that drew thousands of residents on to the streets to clean up the streets after the London Riots.

From Gardening, Fundraising, Fixing, Meeting and Making there are live ‘good things’ that you can involve yourself in right now and perhaps by taking a look and seeing what good is going on, you might come up with your own thing you might want to start.

Startacus’ own Collaboration platform will allow people to come together to help make ideas and projects a little more like a reality, so we salute Dan Thompson for recognising the power of the crowd and the positive ability of social media to make a difference (in a good way).

Getting people together to do good things should hardly be an aspiration for society, but sometimes you need a good ol’ nudge in the right direction to help you out along the way.

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• #social good
• #england
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Published on: 28th November 2012