From loyalists to ambassadors: Right move by UN?

Celebrate World Humanitarian Day today with the United Nations by donating your social media accounts for those who have suffered and survived a crisis.

#ShareHumanity allows you to weave in the offline concept of donation by giving away your Facebook or Twitter account for a day to share first person narratives of a person via series of posts. These stories are of people who have survived a crisis or are volunteering for a cause. You can also choose the story you want to tell.

By targeting social media accounts, the UN is reaching out to youngsters who are known to spend most hours of their day on social media. This concept allows the younger generation to participate without the need for monetary donations, which could have limited the number of participants.

The UN has managed in directing a user to action its own personal feed than, directing users to a particular microsite that would be created for this campaign.

Also, since each personal feed is visible to a multiple circle of peers, family members, office colleagues, acquaintances, the post will reach out to a vast audience within a short span of time. One post on your wall can actually create a chain reaction, and somebody’s story will be known by many. Once you have accepted to donate your feed, you can choose for the posts to be seen by the public or your select group of friends. The reach of the story can be decided by you.

Role of Influencers

At least 82759 posts ( and counting) have been used to tell stories of resilient survivors and volunteers who have helped a cause. Celebrities like Maria Sharapova, have also participated in the campaign and donated their feeds for a day.

Storytelling, too much or just right?

Story telling on social media is not the most novel concept but at the same time, the idea hasn’t caught dust as yet. Also, a story divided over a series of posts can adhere to the short attention span, the younger generation have got used to, with the advent of social media. The UN in a way is converting everyday users into social ambassadors for all those people whose stories need to be heard.

At the same time, since the stories are narrated in smaller posts, there is a bit of discontinuity. Also, there are chances that certain users might view it as spamming as the number of posts is a bit high.

Words can evoke emotion, hoping these stories can a trigger a latent emotion and push a potential volunteer towards a helpful cause.