The Power of Mass Communication

I was sitting in class the other day and someone brought up the White House petition to deport Justin Bieber.  We weren't talking about Biber per-say but the conversation was really about the power and efficacy of the internet.  Most of my peers had a negative outlook on the transformative power of the internet's mass communication social media platforms, but I took a different approach.  It's not that I don't see that proliferation of trolls, the incessant and unnecessary vulgarity, the lack of cohesiveness and purpose; I do, but maybe its just a phase (I hope so) and eventually our internet will emerge from its adolescence and become the transformative power we all hope it can be.

The internet's web of mass communication has already done so much from connecting people to their loved ones, providing information in times of crisis, and mobilizing entire nations (See Arab Spring).  Still, we have only just begun to scratch the surface of the potential that mass mobilization and open information access can do to transform the world.  There are a great many obstacles to even begin confronting some of the global threats that our planet faces and will continue to face; our politicians are locked in a deadly stalemate, for every action we must take there are those who resist because of rational self-interest.  The people of the planet are ready to confront our global challenges, our governments are not: this is where the internet can come to the rescue.  As soon as we realize that there are better and more rewarding ways to harness the power of mass communication we can make real change a reality.

One of the internet's tools that I see as making a real difference is crowd-funding websites.  Kickstarter, Indiegogo and GoFundMe have already helped 10's of thousands (100's of thousands, millions? I don't know I've only got 10 minutes and can't spend it researching but lets just leave it at "a lot") of entrepreneurs begin to realize their dream of making a difference.  The range of people, products, stories, support, charities, etc. that have been mobilized by small contributions from large numbers of people is truly astonishing.  Who knows which of these people are going to be the next great think in American enterprise, but I have a feeling they are already looking for support on one of these crowd-funding sites.  Every once in a while one of these projects takes off, it goes viral, it crosses the "tipping point" (Read Gladwell's book, its worth the time) and that is what the internet can do in the 21st century.  If you have a great idea then just do it, the tools are there and you can succeed; its the modern American dream realized.

Now for a little un-solicited promotion.  I got interested in this topic because a great friend of mine is beginning his own project today.  I really admire him because he lives his life with a "get what you want and figure it out later" philosophy.  It reads a little narcissistic in writing, but really its all about deciding how you want to live your life and then living it that way.  He has a great project going on and I hope you all can support it, even if only by sharing it with others.  Not only is their mission great but their products are even better, i'd tell you all about it but that'd be redundant since they've already done all the work for me.  Check them out here.

By harnessing the power of the internet, we can decide what kind of life we want to live but even more importantly, we can decide what kind of world we get to live those lives in.  Make a difference, make a change, it's up to all of us.

Cheers