How Twitter can (and can’t) change the world

Acting through Twitter helps, but it can’t end there

When a crisis hits, most of us feel a gut instinct to help. But most of us won’t go that far out of our way to do something. That’s exactly why Twitter has inspired such huge numbers of people to get involved in causes: they can contribute to a better world in 140 characters or less (or at least feel like they have). Millions have devoted their time and money to solving the world’s biggest issues. But for that effort to not go to waste, we need to get our feet back on the ground and accept that social media can’t solve the world’s problems by itself – it can only contribute to the hands on solution. Many of us seem to be losing sight of this.

Losing sight is understandable considering Twitter’s remarkable achievements. Within hours of the 7.0 earthquake rocking Haiti, Twitter was giving people a way to show the world images of the carnage and a medium to tell their stories. With the country’s infrastructure devastated, there weren’t many other options for getting the message out. And with that message spreading across Twitter like wildfire, millions opened their wallets to support relief efforts – including more than $20 million donated to the Red Cross’s text message campaign.

  

But while the donation is instant and simple, relief getting to the people is far from it. The mobile industry has regulations which delay the donations by 90 days, and the aid that is available is delayed in getting to the people due to a lack of rescue workers. In other words, there are great big on the ground problems that need people’s help which Twitter can’t solve, but aren’t getting due attention. The people in need are still facing a dire situation, but that is masked to some extent when we go on about the impressive amount of involvement that’s taken place.

The quake highlights both the inherent triumphs and shortcomings of what a Twitter campaign by itself is capable of. Social media efforts need to have comprehensive strategies – from your computer screen to the end result – to accomplish their goals. That probably sounds obvious, but how many people do you think write their tweet, feel like they’ve done their part and forget about the issue? Sometimes social media provides answers that are in fact a little too easy to be true, and leaves people feeling absolved of responsibility anyway. 

It’s still early days in utilizing Twitter in crisis response, and its ability to generate massive, global awareness within minutes of an event is already a landmark achievement in the history of communication. Never before have we been able to make so many people aware of a crisis so quickly, and then get them to do something. But we have to get real about what Twitter and social media can accomplish before they will truly change the world for the better. If action stops at the keyboard, it will only amount to a drop in the ocean. What you do out there in the real world is still what wins the day. 

Though it isn’t the whole solution, money is still desperately needed to save lives in Haiti. Check out our previous post to learn 10 ways you can contribute, including campaigns to send workers into the field.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.