What’s involved?
You could be studying, working or tracking down information but after a series of dead ends you find yourself procrastinating.
Rather then spend hours on facebook adding pointless applications and forwarding that chain email at the risk of never finding true love, why not inspire your contacts to take action?
Online social networking
Social networking sites like facebook, MySpace and friendster are a great way to procrastinate but also a great way to inform people about issues or events that could see them taking action.
Adding the cause application to your facebook profile can demonstrate a reaching out across boarders to show your support and let your friends know about what different organisations there are to volunteer, raise donations or petition on behalf of.
Making your top friends on your MySpace worthwhile causes and uploading videos to your profile can generate awareness and curiosity in your friends or others browsing your profile.
Linking an organisation that you have been involved with to your friendster can mean long lost friends can see what you have been up to.
Email
Make your action about taking action.
Where chain and forwarded emails can often be frustrating and create mountains of spam for users and servers, emails to friends suggesting things they can do when also wiling away the hours can be more productive.
Suggesting sites such as ActNow gives your friends and colleagues the opportunity to contribute their thoughts and ideas, learn about taking action and make positive change in their own lives and communities.
Instant messaging
Subtle suggestion can easily make your peers aware of an issue without confronting them directly.
A simple change to your personal comment or signature at the bottom of messaging windows or emails can spark interest without forcing it.
For example, if you were to be changing your MSN comment it could read: acting on ActNow; planting trees this weekend; or simply, www.actnow.com.au
Signatures could read: 'Your Name' is changing the world one energy-saving light bulb at a time; OR 'Your Name' - committed to human rights in Sudan.
Please remember
No one likes a spammer, so be to the point, gather your audience's attention and then leave them to their own devices. If they ask questions be prepared to explain your reasons and give them helpful information and directives as to where they can find out more.
Furthermore, give ActNow a plug, after all this is where you found this thing to do!
I want to do this!
This work is licenced under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence.
© 2008. First published on actnow.com.au
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