5 Ways to Use Social Media for Good

The average person will spend over 5 years of his or her life on social media. This breaks down to about 2 hours per day scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, using Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, or your social media platform of choice. Teenagers, however, are reported to spend an average of 9 hours a day consuming media. 

Where do you think you fall in that range? Maybe you were surprised by these statistics, or maybe not - but if we're spending all this time on social media anyway, why not use it to help make a difference in the world?

Here are 5 ways to put your social media time to good use:

1. Raise awareness for a cause

Find a cause that you're passionate about, or that is personally important to you, and use your social media platforms to spread awareness. Some examples of causes would include things such as: world hunger, suicide prevention, domestic violence, and human rights, to name just a few.

You can raise awareness by sharing statistics, photos, videos, and research studies pertaining to your cause. You can also share your personal thoughts and feelings about why the cause is important to you. It's always helpful to provide people with resources to learn more or specific things they can do to help make a difference.

2. Organize a local service project

While raising awareness could be on a national or global level, there is also a lot you can do in your local community to make a positive difference. Through social media, you can connect with local community leaders to find a service project that needs doing. Organize the project, create an event, and invite all your friends via social media.

This is a great way to connect IRL with friends and members of your community. And after the project is done, share all the great photos on social media to inspire others to get involved as well!

3. Spread the word about what's already happening

If organizing a project sounds a little too hefty right now, you can still help your community out by spreading the word about things that are already in motion! Find out about charitable events, fundraisers, food drives, or service projects and spread the word through social media to help their efforts be more successful. 

4. Share an uplifting message

This one's simple: skip a selfie or food pic and share an uplifting thought with your friends and followers instead. This could be your own thoughts and experiences, or an inspiration quote or positive news story that you saw online. With all the people and all the time they spend on social media, you never know who could see your message, quote, or story at just the right time. This is an easy way to spread good vibes and hopefully make someone's day a little brighter.

5. Represent brands that give back

As much as you'd love to create a social movement of your own, maybe you just don't have the time or resources right now. Thankfully, there are many companies out there who don't just sell products, but also do good. If you fall in love with a brand's products and their cause, share it! Society as a whole is becoming more and more aware of how the products we buy impact the earth, and the people on it. There are lots of people just like you who are looking for ways to make ethical purchases that also give back.

As a bonus, a lot of brands have rep programs where you'll receive some small kickback or compensation for your efforts in sharing the brand with your friends.

Here at Rice Love, we have an Advocate Program. Anyone can join this program who is active on social media and passionate about our cause: to help end world hunger. All of our advocates receive a personal discount code to share with their friends and followers, and for every purchase made with their code, they get a 10% commission as a thank you from us!

Being a Rice Love Advocate is all about using social media to spread awareness in a sincere, honest, and ethical way. The hunger problem in the world is enormous. 800 million people are undernourished! Rice Love is building a movement to reduce hunger and increase the love between people of all nations. We provide a way for people to reduce the problem with a simple everyday choice, like which bag to carry. For every item we sell, we give a kilo of rice to a family in need. Our goal is to give 1 million kilos of rice away by the end of 2020. As an Advocate, you would be a critical part of the movement to reach this goal!

If you're interested in becoming a Rice Love Advocate, apply now!

 

Much love,

Amy Rawlings

Rice Love

 

Sources:

https://www.adweek.com/digital/mediakix-time-spent-social-media-infographic/

https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/03/health/teens-tweens-media-screen-use-report/