The Heart and Soul of Social Networking

Amid our ethical concerns about the downside of computer technology in general and social networking in particular, I celebrate the example that people provide in their charitable work, especially in how that work is helped by leveraging the power of many through social networking and social media.

In an article by Bob Braun in The Star Ledger (see online article link below), I became aware of Katie Meyler, who has devoted herself to helping young girls in Liberia out of poverty through education. Katie founded the More Than Me foundation to provide support for this work.

To highlight how social networking and social media can be used to promote a positive ethical purpose, I wanted to share her example and invite your comments on her work and how we can use these online platforms for social good.

Here are some links to her charitable work on the More Than Me Foundation Web site:

http://www.morethanme.org/story.html

http://www.morethanme.org/blog

I welcome your comments about how we can transform the nature of charitable work and giving through social networking and social media.

Thanks for sharing,

Doc

Bob Braun’s article about Katie in The Star Ledger via nj.com:

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2011/11/braun_homeless_somerset_county.html

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25 Responses to The Heart and Soul of Social Networking

  1. Laura says:

    Thank you for sharing this charity event. Very inspiring! I voted and passed it on to others on my facebook.

  2. Doc says:

    Bravo Katie Meyler and to Laura and all those who voted for More Than Me foundation in Chase’s American Giving Awards! Our continued best wishes, support, and prayers for you, for Abigail, and all the girls in Liberia who can now go to school! We all win by using social networking for social good.

  3. Claire says:

    What a great way to utilize social networks for the benefit of others! Very Cool Doc 🙂

  4. Doc says:

    Thanks Claire, for sharing your comment about the example Katie and More Than Me Foundation provide in the use of social media for social good.

  5. Jan says:

    This is heartwarming. There are so many articles and concerns today that our young people are too involved in social media and social networking that we aren’t making the human connection. This is a wonderful display of how social networking can be used to further the human connection and help others.

  6. Doc says:

    Thanks Jan, for sharing your insights about young people and the positive side of social networking. Katie Meyler is a young person and devotes her life to helping girls in Liberia and her friends and their friends on social media were the ones to support her in this effort (and many help her in person). Also, I recently saw the movie, God’s Not Dead, and at the end of the movie they asked everyone to text that message to their friends and as I was leaving the theater, I saw many young people sharing that message in their seats before leaving.

  7. Eric says:

    Hearing the stories that Katie shared were both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Knowing that she now has funds to expand the services that she offers to the children of Liberia is a ringing endorsement for the use of social media to advance causes that need funding. My wife’s grandparents (now deceased) were missionaries in Cote d’Ivoire for almost 40 years. They recounted numerous stories of the plight of the people in this West African country. I can only imagine how much easier it would have been for them to raise funds for the medical missions and Bible translation that they conducted over four decades had they had access to the social networking that we are inundated with.

  8. Doc says:

    Thanks Eric, for sharing your insights about the positive role that social networking and social media can play in promoting social good, especially for raising needed resources for the kinds of causes that Katie represents. And yes, we can imagine how global internetworking and the social software we now use could have advanced previous missionary and similar efforts, but we can take heart in the fact that the foundation for good will was created by those before us and that we can now find creative ways to use digital marketing and promotion to further those causes.

  9. Janet says:

    As others have said, this is an amazing example of how social networking can truly help those in need. The site does not make a generalized appeal but brings in personal stories to truly inform the reader of who this affects. The stories of the girls are so moving and immediately make you want to make a donation or fly over to Liberia to help. Unfortunately, with the Ebola outbreak this is not an option. The individual stories about the girls give the organization a more personalized understanding of why and how it is so important to support them. Bravo to receiving Chase’s American Giving Award! I couldn’t agree more that this is a cause worth supporting.

  10. Doc says:

    Thanks Janet for pointing out that there are many reasons why we might not otherwise know or connect with causes that we discover through a social media campaign or social networking site. Fortunately, individuals are responding through online donations, and companies like Chase are acting as a go-between to make these connections, provide support, and garner the brand recognition and customer prospects that accrue to positive social media marketing.

  11. Christian says:

    Wow! This is such a powerful story. More than me is an amazing organization and I am proud to have found out about an organization that makes this incredible impact in the lives of girls – Phenomenal! Social media indeed helps to one’s message out and in this case though social media we are able to see the power of compassion and love in action.

    I am amazed!

  12. Christian says:

    I just watched her acceptance speech again – wow! Dreams really do come true.

  13. Doc says:

    Thanks Christian for sharing your thoughts and feelings about the power of social media to support social good as exemplified in the work of More Than Me Foundation. I fully expect that you will harness this power for similar good, so there is the double blessing, Doc

  14. Cynthia says:

    Thanks for this inspirational story. I am glad we all have different roads we travel. God has angels everywhere ready to fulfill his people’s needs. Amen

  15. Doc says:

    Thanks Cynthia for sharing your insights about the inspiration that using social media for social good can provide, and how that good can be divine in nature – on earth as it is in heaven.

  16. Felicia G says:

    I am always happy to see good things being spread or going viral on the web. I appreciate the time and care that is being shown here. This is the kind of thing that should “break the internet”. Great job. Doc, thanks for sharing.

  17. Doc says:

    Thanks Felicia for underscoring the double benefits of sharing through online social media the social good that is being done: for those who do that good and for those who support it in their “likes”

  18. Dwight Farris says:

    Social networking is connecting, and the idea of socially bonding with fellow humans in unique methods and for a number of reasons predates the concept of the technologically driven online community. Moreover, the plethora of group-impact lessons learned verses the individual influence has driven educators, scientist, psychologists, and philosophers to continue investigating the enormity of the socially associative phenomenon. In fact, neuroscientists are on the verge of providing a scientific explanation of why humans are prone to be socially connected (Cozolino, 2014).
    That said, I am certain there is not a global requirement to provide a scientific explanation of why we all inertly strive to socially connect. However, from a scholarly perspective, a level of comfort could be established if a credible explanation is available, and many of the inquiries about ‘why we gather’ could be answered. Furthermore, I posit that offering a conjecture about group dynamics and group impact should no longer suffice as an intellectual elucidation. I also contend that now is the time to, not only highlight social movements such as the More Than Me Foundation, but the continuance of viable scholarly research on the impact of social connections and networking should ensue.
    I am distinctly aware that this scholarly mandate may produce a counter-awareness of actual movements, however, credibility creates informational momentum on several fronts, and many individuals aspire to learn more when information continues to be presented in this manner.
    Hence, technology and the many platforms avail to us will provide the global social networking structure to disseminate all facets of the influences of groups, social links, and online communities. I postulate that this concept of connectedness, utilizing social media, represents the essence of human social awareness and its impact on initiatives, no matter where they emanate around the globe.
    References
    Cozolino, L. (2014). The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology). WW Norton & Company.

  19. Doc says:

    Thanks Dwight for sharing your insights and relevant references to the scientific understanding of social networking.

  20. Virginia Irene Clagg says:

    Bravo to More than me- what an amazing and innovative endeavor this is! I wish we could see these types of results globally in education systems that prove similar needs for change. Godspeed young women and future leaders! Godspeed!

  21. Doc says:

    Thank you Virginia for your valued feedback. It is encouraging to see that you are of like mind and spirit – likely to do your own take on uplifting those in need. Bravo to you! Doc

  22. Scott Windsor, Sr. says:

    Social media and social networking provide an excellent avenue for sharing, and not only for charity but for social belonging too. Just reading through the responses here before mine – one can see how what Katie and the More Than Me Foundation are doing, not only for girls in Liberia but for so many others who read about and hear about the differences being made – not only over there, but also in the hearts and minds of people in social media – only a fraction of whom have left comments as I believe so many more have read in silence and cannot help but feel good about Katie’s mission.

    Watching Katie’s videos motivated me to look for more and I found the https://feelgoodcom.org site which promotes a social connectedness and that “no one should have to face anything alone.” Quoting from a message they received from one in their community:
    #feelgoodcom – in a world that causes stress & anxiety in so many ways it’s vital that we all find a way to #feelgood

    I am writing this in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic when so many people are heeding the recommendations to self-isolate – but it is a time like now that we need to not practice social distancing, rather physical distancing – we need to be social and communicate with friends, loved ones, and even strangers who might be touched or moved – much the way I feel touched and moved by Katies More Than Me movement as well as the feelgoodcom.org site.

    Scott<<<

  23. Doc says:

    Thank you Scott for sharing your valued insights into the distinction between a safe physical distance and a close social distance. While during a pandemic, there needs to be a reminder of the need to stay at a safe distance from others, the use of the word social is a bit of a misnomer in this era of ready access to socially interact online with others, much as we are doing now, albeit asynchronously. I know you are a keen observer of these matters and will pursuing this problem area in your research and publication, so let me encourage you to make your journey of understanding one that you share socially all along the way using online media, both asynchronous as in a blog like this one and youtube videos, but also live online conferencing where you stream presentation and discussion online among scholars, practitioners, and other interested parties to what you are discovering in your research findings. With my thanks and best wishes to you on this journey, Doc

  24. Murf says:

    The concept Katie had (allowing girls the opportunity for an education) is inspiring and heartbreaking. The speech she gave at the Chase Awards in Washington, D.C. brought tears to my eyes. How many people using social media have been able to engage others in a movement? I have not heard of many like this. Abigail’s story is all too common, and Katie taking this challenge to help these girls is incredible. The accolades she received from people at the banquet, is nothing compared to seeing those girls walk to school with their own back packs. Showing everyone, the pride one can have when given the opportunity to receive an education, but we all know many countries frown upon this.

    Thank you for reminding us of the good social media can have on a person’s visions.

  25. Doc says:

    Thank you Murf for sharing how this use of online social media can yield social good – a good for Katie and the girls is a good for us all = something so needed in this time of global awakening to this issue, and hopefully increasing support for their rescue and restoration.

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