Bettering the world
Polio is 99% gone. Why stop there?” tweets Bill Gates with a link that says, “Join Us in Our Historic Opportunity to End Polio”. Gates and Warren Buffet, along with about 50 other world’s billionaires, launched The Giving Pledge a couple of years ago, appealing to the wealthiest in the world to give majority of their wealth to philanthrophy. Initially launched in the US, and then taken to other parts of the worlds via social media and contact programmes, the campaign now has even Mark Zuckerberg signing up.
Social media is here to stay for the corporate community to realise their social responsibilities. Whether it is Tata Steel’s Value stronger than Steel effort, Aircel’s Save Our Tigers campaign initiative or Mahindra & Mahindra’s Spark the Rise drive, social media has become an engine of success for such initiatives — in drumming up support to make this world a better place.
“The emergence and evolution of the Web has changed the world around us forever. We are fast becoming ubiquitous owners of this world, along with its other six billion inhabitants. If a company can harness these disparate voices, they can become advocates of an initiative and amplify its effects,” says Kishore Chakraborti, vice president, Consumer Insight & Human Futures Development, McCann Erickson India.
From YouTube videos, Facebook campaigns to interactive websites, organisations are opening up to corporate philanthropy in a big way. “If you know there is a person in need or the cause is worth the effort, why wouldn’t you help? Every person believes he or she is capable of greatness, if only our voices are heard,” sums up Nitin Bhatnagar, an MNC executive.
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