Comments on: Interview: Social Media and Social Entrepreneurs

By: Invention, Technology and Social Change: What’s driving you? « Amy Sample Ward’s Version of NPTech

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:34:11 +0000

[…] Social Change: What’s driving you? Published in interview and issues. 0 Comments I was interviewed recently by Petra Kroon, a blogger focused on social media and entrepreneurship in The Netherlands, in which […]

By: Amy Sample Ward

Amy Sample Ward — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:04:36 +0000

In reply to Christina Jordan.

Thanks so much, Christina – happy to have your voice in this!

I think you are spot on that most organizations have so far been using social media as a stop-gap and not a strategic element. I know that change usually happens slowly/gradually, but believe we are already seeing a move towards openness and collaboration. From platforms like Zanby to movements like 350ppm, even in places like the NetSquared Community where projects who participate in a competition end up working together instead of against each other! I think we are about to see even more, both on the side of the technology tools we use and on the organizations and leaders who help move us.

By: Christina Jordan

Christina Jordan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:40:16 +0000

Amy, I love your optimism. While it’s clear to me that social media has the potential to enhance the impact that social entrepreneurs and nonprofits make in the world, it feels to me like we’re not quite there yet. My sense is that the use of social media in our sector to date has been primarily dominated by organizational survival and/or opportunity chasing – pushing organizational agendas rather than using social media to inform and improve upon approaches to creating sustainable change. Working within our organizational “silos” can often fragment support to the cause-related objectives that organizations share. I so look forward to witnessing the shift in trends toward more sharing and collaboration on filling in more of the gaps. We need more voices like yours reminding changemakers that the higher value of these tools lies in working together to discover better solutions, and mobilizing them. Thanks for all you do ~ so very sad I didn’t hear about #ESGT until it was over!