5 ideas to inspire students to use social media for good

"High School Musical" star Monique Coleman is a youth empowerment advocate who recently provided advice about using social media to do good.  Below is the advice she shared on her site http://gimmemo.com followed by her video where you can hear her for yourself sharing these ideas.  If you like what she has to say, you’ll be happy to know you can connect with Monique on Twitter.  She is co-hosting the March 18th Student Voice Twitter chat on the topic, "How can influential figures and organizations play a role in empowering the student voice?" Use the hashtag #StuVoice and tag Monique at @GimmeMoTalk. The chat starts at 8:30 p.m. eastern standard time.

5 ideas to use social media for good

1. Build an online network of similar organizations and people. The biggest contribution that you have is your voice, your ability to speak up and speak out. Find others who care about what you do. When you do you are on your way to creating your personal learning network.
2. Use Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness and broaden your audience.
• Twitter
  On Twitter share what inspires you and get conversations going. Twitter is also a great source of information.  For example, when there is a big event i.e. a natural disaster, Twitter is a great place to learn about it. Look at the trending topics or type the topic in search with a hashtag i.e. #earthquake.
• Facebook
  On Facebook, you can share what you care about by simply sharing your thoughts and ideas in moving ways with words and pictures that others can comment on. You can also show what you care about by “liking” pages that represent your passions.
3. Use your unique voice to inspire and motivate others. If you want to use social media to get others to take action, start by being authentic and inspirational. This can help to motivate others. First create awareness. After that you may want to create a petition. You can do this on Twitter by going to act.ly. It is important to show others how they can be a part of change. However, remember that it is helpful to be able to demonstrate your own involvement in this movement.
4. Make the most out of Twitter by breaking up your Tweets and building momentum. Don’t worry about getting your whole idea out in one tweet.  Break it up. For example, you can start with a tweet that is introducing an idea. You may Tweet, “Check out....” then share what they should check out and include a url. Then say more about what they should check out by sharing what they are doing or why. Conclude with an action they can take or idea to discuss further. With Twitter the key is to keep it concise and meaningful with ideas that can be built upon.
5. Only post things that you don’t mind anyone reading -- forever.
   When you post on social media you are publishing to the world. Whether you realize it or not you are sharing publicly. Before you post keep this rule of thumb in mind: If you wouldn’t say it in front of your teacher, your grandmother, or the president, don’t say it on social media. You should also consider, if a future employer, college recruiter, or marriage partner were to see this, would they still be interested in me?

Monique is right!
You’ve got the power to do You’ve got the power to do incredible things online.
You create the digital world we play in.
How you use that power—that’s up to you.
Take the pledge and share how you will use your power for good at A Platform for Good by visiting this link. There you can see some great ways other young people have also used the power of online tools as a platform for good to change lives and change the world for the better.