The Social Good Summit, held in NYC, Beijing, Nairobi and Somalia this year, was one of the most exhilarating commentaries on technology and its potential for inspiring actions and movements for the betterment of others. Here’s the agenda.
The summit was composed of dozens of mini-panels on issues prevalent in our societies and how technology – the internet, social media, and crowdfunding has changed outreach – aid, development efforts, and philanthropy.
And the speakers! Oh, the speakers. Imagine the most comprehensive panel – a culmination of technology entrepreneurs, NGO founders, and government leaders. And more. They ranged from Nick Kristof to Jeff Sachs, America Ferrera, Hans Rosling, Allyson Felix, and Raj Shah.
By the end of the summit, the hashtag #SGSglobal had received over 60,000 tweets. The summit had been viewed in 163 countries and viewed on over 230 different types of mobile devices. That’s pretty amazing.
Because we all couldn’t be there and the recording isn’t up yet, here are 4 beautiful messages from 4 very different speakers.
1. “Action without love is meaningless.” – Deepak Chopra
Known for a lot of spiritual preaching, Chopra said one thing that resonated with me.
There obviously several meanings and interpretations for this one, but the one we choose to espouse is that we must fully commit, passionately, to our endeavors. Without passion and the benefit of the other as the ultimate end goal, no commitment to community service or aid will be as successful as possible.
2. “Advocacy starts at home.”
Claire, the Social Innovation Lead at Twitter, said this explaining that advocacy and action used to refer to doing things in our local communities, but that social media has allowed us to become advocates while sitting on our couches at home. We have become advocates for people and causes whom we have never seen or heard. And that is the beauty of the interconnectedness of the web.
3. “Greatness is found at every level of the human spirit.”
From Nike Brand’s Charlie Denson. There is good in everyone and the desire to do good in everyone. Technology has made that desire easier to act upon; it has made assuaging our moral conscience easier.
We are all human and all connected not just by technology, but passion and empathy, which make us human. It is this which drives us to do good and this, which we must inspire in others using the tools at hand.
4. “The point of having phones in our pockets is to find the others. To connect, collaborate, and do good.” – Scott Heiferman, The CEO of Meetup.
Social media is just a suite of tools. IT is not an agent of change. WE are. We, humans, are agents of change. We drive connections and connectivity. We drive passion and change.
Maxim encourages people to develop passions. We encourage people to make others aware of their own passion and to connect with those who share their passions. The privilege to have knowledge of social media and the ability to access and control it should not be taken for granted.
Our main contribution to the social good is producing feminine hygiene products that are eco-friendly, organic, natural and the safest for women. We also try and contribute to the global conversation about pertinent issues. Check out our blogs and join in!