Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty

Thousands of blogs all around the world are using today to blog about poverty and work with BlogActionDay to help change the conversation. Social media, and it’s ease of use, from anyone with a state-of-the-art laptop to a cell phone to a desktop from the early IBM days can create a blog, twitter, use Facebook or MySpace.

Social media, no matter how you access it or how you use it, is about the conversation and more so, it’s about the connection and the relationship you form with others. Social media doesn’t recognize financial boundaries or constraints.

(image source: uncultured)

I’ve looked at other ways social media is being used for social causes, to fundraise, raise awareness for causes etc, and Blog Action Day is just another one of those causes. By gathering 12,000+ of the most talkative, prolific, and influential bloggers together to talk about one topic, we are able to make a difference.

I tried long and hard to come up with a way to connect Blog Action Day & the topic, Poverty, to Social Media. Sure, there are blogs out there like the Union Gossip Mission’s, there are Twitter streams like Safe and Well from the Red Cross, but I kept coming back to the fact that in and of itself, by it’s very existence, Blog Action Day is affecting poverty through social media.

One issue, Thousands of Voices

Global issues like poverty are extremely complex. There is no simple, clear answer. By asking thousands of different people to give their viewpoints and opinions, Blog Action Day creates an extraordinary lens through which to view these issues. Each blogger brings their own perspective and ideas. Each blogger posts relating to their own blog topic. And each blogger engages their audience differently. [source]

(image source: babsteve)

Blog Action Day has put together a list of 88 different things you can do right now to help solve poverty in your neighborhood. Take a look through, add your own thoughts to the list and maybe just try one or two this week. You don’t have to do a lot. Just do something.

Also, Share this list everywhere – Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Mixx, Twitter, the bus, the train, the plane, the street, the dinner table, the pulpit, the classroom, the boardroom, the bedroom, etc. We mean everwhere. It’s called blog ACTION day, not just another day to blog.

88 Ways to Take Action Against Poverty Right Now
I’ve chosen to do the “sponsor me” day.  Today, and for the rest of October, pledge any amount of money, even a dollar, and I’ll match your donation and donate the total to Kiva to help with wells, water cleanliness or food. Comment on this post, or on the BuzzNetworker Blog Action Day page and let me know you’d like to donate. I’ll email you separately and provide you with the Paypal information. I’ll update your name and link on the Blog Action Page upon receipt and at the end of the month will announce the total raised.

What are you going to do? Did you participate in Blog Action Day? Do you want your link to be on the BuzzNetworker Blog Action Day page?  Drop me a line or leave a comment on this post.