I was in my element last week basking in the presence of grassroots media organizations, nonprofits and cause campaigns at the NetSquared conference. Here are some impressive efforts that I hadn’t heard much about:
• Freecycle.org ("changing the world one gift at a time"). With 5,253,000 members across the globe, it’s a grassroots
nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for
free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff
out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free. (I just joined — I have a lot of stuff I don’t need anymore and would like to see it go to folks who need it.)
• KnowMore.org ("Question your goods, vote with your wallet"). The KnowMore community has profiled hundreds of corporations with the goal of raising awareness of corporate abuses and empowering consumers to use their purchase power for social change. Check out its Firefox extension, which alerts you to the unethical behavior of company websites you visit.
• Squarepeg (squarepegged.org) is a communication tool for people who use the Internet to organize around social causes.
• MakeInternetTV.org is an easy, free, comprehensive guide for creating
and publishing video online. The site offers step-by-step instructions
for shooting, editing, and publishing online videos, including sections
on equipment, editing, licensing, publishing and how to get noticed.
• Vocalo.org, a fairly new citizen media site based in Chicago (89.5 FM).
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
Leave a Reply