Written by Lauren Bucher
Twitter, YouTube, Facebook — social media have changed the nature of communication. Now, this virtual communication is instantaneous, easily accessible and perpetual.Activity in the virtual world can translate directly into activity in the material world; rather than simply creating another world, online activity flows into movement outside the virtual world. The Brave New Media Conference on Saturday, March 26, explored a way to harness the virtual activity of social media and channel it into positive social change.”Social media changes the way we communicate, the way we relate to the world, but it is also im- portant because we need to think of social media in a larger context to see how we can effect positive change,” Casey Neese, social network marketing manager at Heifer International, said. “New tools and media platforms enable students, no matter where they are, to connect with people anywhere else.”Neese’s speech, “Unlikely Humanitarians,” explained the changing nature of media, how anyone can become a content creator and how social media can be used for a philanthropic goal.”We all are content creators — news, videos, photographs. Everyone is talking to each other at the same time,” Neese said. “Now, all of a sudden we have access to a lot of tools to do a lot of good.”Neese explained the way virtual events can bring people together to support a common cause. Anyone with access to the Internet can find others with shared interests and humanitarian goals, making humanitarian activity accessible to ordinary people.”People can use Twitter to organize offline events, personal events, gathering in their city locally,” Neese said.The tool of online activity is just that, a tool, Neese said, adding that online political activity is not responsible for social change in itself.”New media gets a lot of credit for toppling regimes, but people and ideas have always been the real driving force of social change,” Neese said. “[However], the tool of social media can facilitate those changes.”Because social media are still relatively new, junior Amy Littleton and senior Alan Elrod, who planned the conference, said they thought it was important to engage students in a critical conversation about the topic.”Getting online doesn’t mean turning off,” Elrod said. “It doesn’t mean going on autopilot. It requires that we come ready to think critically and meet issues with vision and grace.”Approximately 100 people attended the conference, and 75 were Harding students, Littleton said.”I’ll be working for a nonprofit this summer, and the Brave New Media Conference covered materials that I’m interested in,” senior Jonghwa ( Jon) Lee said. “Social media helps to reach out to younger generations and inform them of our responsibility to help others.”The conference was sponsored by HUmanity, the College of Communication and the Harding chapter of the Roosevelt Institute.”I think the discussion at the conference was especially significant because of the fact that our world is forever changed because of social media and the Internet, and we must learn how to use it to benefit our life experi- ence,” Littleton said.To learn more about Heifer, visitheifer.orgTo view Neese’s social media skills in action, follow him on Twitter@cbneese.
