Collaboration, not competition, in Beijing, China

In her blog post for Impatient Optimists, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Kate James explains why China is a critical force in the global conversation:

“It was important to have China at the heart of the conversation, despite the obvious challenges presented by time zone differences and translation complexity. The size and scale of social media usage in China is enormous —Tencent’s WeChat platform alone boasts over 200 million users — and the commitment of Chinese social media companies to using social media for social good is unprecedented.”

One of the big takeaways from the Beijing event? Major media organizations setting aside competition to address social issues.

The newly formed Chinese Social Media for Social Good Alliance came together on multiple occasions this year… Great examples include a World TB Day campaign in March, in which the Alliance partnered with the Chinese Ministry of Health to raise awareness and encourage preventative action against the spread of TB.

Here are just a few snapshots from the event.

Olympic medalist Zhe Feng on the need to eradicate polio from the planet.

Jet Li on social media for good

Connecting Beijing with New York and Nairobi.

RenRen’s Joe Chen on technology innovation.