Today two friends shared a video with me via Facebook. It's important that I mention it was two friends because if I received the video from one friend I may not have watched the video, and I certainly would not be writing this post about the video - but when two people share the same thing, I tend to take notice. You should too.
"Kony2012...absolutely amazing proof that this is a spiritual awakening. Have you watched this video that's circulating?"
I just finished watching the video, and I recommend you do as well. You can find the video here.
But before you do, let me add a disclaimer. I'm not a particularly political person, but this video will certainly move you. I think it will effect you even more profoundly if you're a parent, I felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach while watching it. This video articulates beautifully that this social media animal is a spiritual dance. That together, "many littles" can do great things through our collective digital connections.
If Jen and Mike hadn't shared the video with me, I wouldn't have shared it with you, and you wouldn't have been able to share this post with your social network, and perhaps this movement would die on the vine. Thank you to Jen and Mike for being brave. I think the rest may be up to you.
The filmmaker has created the video under the premise that we live in a new world. One in which an idea can be accelerated via social media. So they are reaching out to certain powerful people to help their movement, but most importantly they are reaching out to YOU. They believe that "if the world knows who Joseph Kony is, it will unite to stop him." They are not celebrating the man (you'll understand after you watch the video, they are raising support for his arrest and to "set a precedent for international justice."
The filmmaker and organizers - Invisible Children (from what I can tell) are extremely well versed in social media. They realize the power, the reach and the velocity in which awareness can be raised, and how tides can be turned. They are taking a page (both literally and figuratively) from Wail Ghonim who I write about in my book Your World is Exploding: How Social Media is Changing Everything- and How you Need to Change with it.
What does this video tell me? That social media is certainly a spiritual awakening, and that a definitive trend in 2012 and beyond will include social media supporting social good. We've played with our new little toy. Now it's time to put on our big boy pants, and move mountains. Together.
So go ahead, watch the video. Feel it churn in your belly. Allow it to make you tear up a bit. And then share, tweet, post, comment, blog and make Joseph Kony famous.
I believe. Do you?