Online engagement

There is a shift happening in civil society that is giving me inspiration every day. 

Folks are no longer waiting for the powers that be to provide solutions our problems, but are stepping up and doing something themselves.

Almost every day I meet folks who are looking for answers in their lives, but rather than dropping out, they are engaging or re-engaging in so many ways.

In the past, the only way to engage was through groups, societies and NGOs. We still had the mindset that told us that we needed to go through an authority to be able to do something. Even more foolishly, we looked to our governments for guidance…

It goes, almost without saying, that the internet has been a great boon to all of us by making information accessible to anyone who can connect with it. It has allowed so many of us to connect in a different way – to connect with each other. 

Now, the time of the ‘expert’ is waning. Everyone can be an authority on what they know best and share that knowledge ever so easily.

It is so easy now to get a group of like-minded individuals together on a Facebook page to share knowledge and skills freely  with almost no training.

It is a great way to get local knowledge to the wider world.

Myself, I’ve got three Facebook groups together, two very local and one with a much wider scope. They’ve all brought people together who maybe wouldn’t have connected on this level and we’re seeing so many positive results. I’ve seen great friendships and partnerships and endeavours formed and acted upon and I’m only a tiny piece of the puzzle.

There are literally millions of groups online, not just on Facebook, but other social media sites and blogs.  

If you’ve managed to get here, to this post, you can find your way to a group that interests you. 

Search away and get engaged!