When my friend Tara Santelices was hospitalized due to a shot in the head from a robber who tried to grab her laptop while inside a jeepney, people around the Philippines and abroad through their Multiply, Friendster, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Plurk pages showed sympathy and support.
Even those people who do not know Tara personally created websites and advertised causes and activities to gather funds to support Tara's hospitalization. Unfortunately, after almost a year in a comatose condition, Tara's body gave up after suffering a cardiac arrest.
This is just one of the many noble uses of our modern social media. Before, we just let news websites to deliver the news, we use social networking sites to interact with our old friends and find new ones, and we use our personal blogs to update people of what's new to you.
Now, all these kind of social media websites has taken the path of noble acts. People now use social media to get the attention of people for something not for themselves but for others.
Reuters once reported about Patrick Sessions who used the power of social media to help him find his daughter, Tiffany Sessions, who's been missing for more than 20 years. He created a website for his daughter, posted videos on YouTube and created pages on Facebook, all for the hope that one day someone will message them of the whereabouts of Tiffany.
The latest person who's benefiting from the power of social media is Robert Botts of Louisville, Kentucky. After his family found his abandoned car last July 30, they made an effort to post his case on many websites such as Scribd and iReport. Also, they created a Twitter account for Robert.
Social media has taken a new path and for the better.
