Making A Wish, Giving Hope, Getting Better & Making A Change

Over the past couple of months, I've noticed a few movements which has touched me in some ways. They inspire me because of their beliefs, and how they use online/ social media to make a difference to the world.

Here are a few that I've noticed..

Heard of the now common phrase & then website FML? Well, Gives Me Hope (GMH) is the opposite of that, which aims to inspire others through the sharings of inspiring moments. 

This is done Internet 2.0 style where anyone can share their moments, and the inspiring ones get voted and will be seen by the public. 

When I heard bout this site, it got me awed. Firstly for its message. Then for how it works. One don't need super programming skills to get the site done, instead just allow a simple registration for members to share their stories. Put these 2 together and an inspiring online movement gets created - impacting lives along the way.

With the success of Gives Me Hope, the creators then created a similar site but this time based on love. Hence, the title Love Gives Me Hope. 

Now, I'm all into the lovey dovey stuffs, and I must say some of the sharings here do get me all warm & fuzzy inside. And I'm sure it does too to many other readers out there - for love, really can go a long long way.

You know during Christmas, there are malls that dedicate a tree to a certain home.. say the orphan homes. Then the children will write their wishes and place them on the trees - and the shoppers who read them can get a gift for them. 

Well, how bout making this an everyday affair? That's where Wish Upon A Hero comes along. Anyone can wish for anything. And one can also make that wish come true for anyone out there. 

In some terms, this is called crowdsourcing, and I must say I'm inspired with how this is used to help the world.

Another online movement which really got me moving is the It Gets Better Project. This project was created by the creators after the many suicidal reports by gay students because of the bullying they face. 

The creators wanted to reach out to the students, but found it hard to reach to them because of the red tapes in the schools. Hence, they thought of the internet, using videos. 

They first posted up their hope video, telling the minority students that life can get better, if they hang on. What happened eventually is that over 10000 other user-initiative videos were then uploaded, including President Obama, Hilary Clinton & some celebrities. 

Looking at all these movements get me kinda inspired in some way. I guess that in the end of the day, the satisfaction comes in making a difference, or an impact (big or small) to the world.

And in many ways, that somehow relates to me & Project O&O. While I wouldn't say it is as huge a movement as the ones mentioned, but I hope that we managed to make an impact with the youths today - telling them that they can make a change in the society by believing in a cause and leveraging on the power of the internet.

My hope - for more of such cool movements to succeed, and of course, for Project O&O to get better grounds in Malaysia, and hopefully also globally. Together, we can :)