The promise - and challenges— of social media in China

After the Social Good Summit’s sister event in Beijing, Kate James of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sat down with Caixin’s Yonina Chan to discuss the just a few of the ways social media is serving as a force for social good in China.

While the sheer scale of social media in China is massive, (one example: Tencent boasts more than 1.2 million participants in their monthly giving program), local firms still need to get creative about using online channels to create real change on the ground.

Says James:

“{One] campaign that the Social Media [for Social Good] Alliance ran this year was around TB. The Chinese Ministry of Health was also involved in the campaign, and they reached out to all their TB officers and asked to establish their own Weibos with a view to using the Weibo to raise awareness and understanding in really remote rural areas…”

“When you think that the Ministry of Health now are saying “ok, socialmedia is the way to reach and engage,” that we’re beginning to see a much broader demographic reach than we have previously”

Montenegro reports on the rise of the citizen expert

When organizers in Montenegro asked their Meetup about how technology can help their community, the response was unanimous: open government data and tools empower everyday citizens to help improve democracy. 

UNDP’s Marija Novkic reports on the conversation and the rise of the citizen expert in her blog pos for Voices of Eurasia, 

We’ve excerpted some of our favorite tweets here:

In Beirut, summit takes on peace-building, women’s empowerment, and more

In Beirut, Lebanon, 60 attendees sat down for working sessions on citizenship and peace building, the role of media, and empowering women.

In their meetup, the Lebanon team developed ideas for next steps, including recommendations to “draft a new media law which leads to the elimination of sectarian domination …  and releases it from [centralized] control;” and to “activate the citizens participation in the Media so that every citizen can be a witness “

We want to hear what ideas you have to turn this conversation into action. What recommendations would you issue to the social good community? Tell us here.

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.

[Update] Nairobi, Kenya: The Sky’s the Limit

“In East Africa, the technology scene is booming with techies who are making a difference in their communities through creativity and innovation. One of these individuals might just create the next big mobile app in the region.”  Africa Review

The Nariobi tech scene was on full display at the Social Good Summit last weekend, with sessions on governance, entrepreneurship, gaming and more. Ashoka reported back with lessons learned from the event:

In one of our favorite panels, Amos Thiongo from Agri-hub, iCow’s Su Kahumba, and others take on tech solutions for food security:

Watch all the Nairobi sessions on UNDP’s Social Good Summit YouTube channel.

[Update] Madrid, Spain

At a sold-out session at BBVA’s Innovation Center,  Madrileños gathered to discuss technology, health, and human rights.

The team captured the conversation online in this TweetDoc:

Here are some highlights from the conversation:

What can the world learn from Madrid’s meetup?

The full event is avaialable here:

[Update] Yerevan, Armenia

Yerevan’s young people had a seat at the table for discussions on SMS, civil society, and more. In the words of one organizer, “youth must lead the activities that are bringing change”

Here’s the rundown…

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