Social Media: A little bit for a lot, or a lot for a little.

This week I've noticed social entreprenuership in the media, especially utilizing film to bring about individual and collective interest and ACTION with issues.

I've encountered organizations like Participant Media that put a lot of money into making "entertainment that inspires and compels social change". They've made movies such as An Inconvenient Truth and Food Inc. that with the participation of 178 non-profit partners have impacted an estimated 75 million viewers. Visitors to the website are presented with five things the viewer can change or do in their personal lives to take action on the social issue presented in the film.

MN Advocates for Human rights is showing and discussing (see October 20th event details here) the movie Born Into Brothels which is a film about prostitution in India co-produced by youth. The making of the film resulted in the formation of the Kids With Cameras organization which teaches photography to marginalized youth in order to make change. They encourage viewers of the academy award-winning film to host Born Into Brothel House parties so that people educate their family and friends regarding the reality of India and financially support Kids With Camera's current efforts to build a home for youth in Calcutta. A kind of "Pampered Chef Party" approach to fund and awareness-raising.

While grammy's and 75 million viewers are impressive, a wise women once told me "You can impact a lot people a little, or a little number of people a lot". My friend from St. Olaf in his trip to Calcutta recently shared that he was impacted a lot during his trip to India. He was impacted by the condition in which youth lived on the streets and made a documentary with the young women that founded Silent Voices. They are in the process of editing a documentary called Joy In Spite of It that will come out March 2011.

Another friend from St. Olaf successfully reminded her audience in her Media Studies senior show that media can be combined with other forms of art, like dance, in order to create social impact. Her dance about the portrayal of women in the media featured compelling media clips as the backdrop of a dahnce piece which is described on her senior studies website. Her senior project affected me and those that partook in the project greatly.