Social Media for Social Change

"With great power comes great responsibility." - Uncle Ben, Spiderman Social media gives people opprtunities to communicate, learn, and earn. In so many ways, people can create careers, businesses, fame and fortune. With these opportunities are also opportunities to change lives and change societies. In the Arab Spring, social media greatly contributed to the revolutions and rise od democracy in some nations in the Middle East. Social media didn't create change. Rather, it became one of the most effective tools to contribute to change. One doesn't have to wait for a revolution to happen for a citizen to contribute to social change. With social media, a citizen can easily and possibly bring change to society. Social media can give voice to the unheard. It can amplify a message. It can give light to issues which have never been discussed. It can provoke a nation to change in ways they never thought they could. Social media gives most individuals with the opportunity to be an opinion maker, to influence, to be more important than he could ever be. With these opportunities come the opportunity to use social media to create change. Advocacies can become more powerful and can reach a wider…

The Anna I Know

Anna and Ria I first met her over a year ago, when I joined the organization's New Member Orientation. We barely spoke to each other. In a few weeks, we got to know and trust each other. And within months, it seemed like we knew each other for a long time. I owe her a lot of things. Every time I thought I could not do something, she gave me the confidence and trust to accomplish the tasks set before me. Every time I wanted to quit, she was the voice of reason and encouragement. Every time I felt disappointed and angry, she calmed me down and gave me a reason to continue trusting in the good of people. She might not be a perfect person, but the Anna I know never stops trying. She sets out to do things not for fame, glory, and power, but mostly to improve herself, to challenge herself. And all the while, she gives and serves without agenda or hidden motives but to give and serve sincerely. She accepts every challenge with the willingness to learn and improve herself. She carried a chapter with barely ten members and worked hard on it, giving it…