Changing Social Media … For Good.

Using social media isn’t easy for me, even though I do use it regularly. Don’t get me wrong — I know how to tweet and retweet like the best of ’em. I can filter and vignette the crap out of photo and still get away with tagging it “no filter”. But when I use social media, I often feel self-conscious, largely in part because I’ve introjected what’s been said out there in the world…

It has been said that our generation is lost, complacent, and prone to narcissistic tendencies (yes, Boomers, we hear you). I don’t think that’s true, but it can certainly feel that way after posting another dog-eared selfie with a hashtag.

So when it comes to posting, it’s almost always accompanied by a sense of guilt. I find myself asking, “what does this actionably contribute to the world?” It’s a real dilemma, because I do agree that the world would a better place if we all spent a little less time on our phones.

But my social media use continues…

An easy remedy for these feelings of selfie self-loathing was the integration of prosocial posts into my posting habits. By prosocial, I mean anything intended to help others, whether that be engaging awareness around a social issue or making an appeal for donations to a charity.

In an atmosphere readily toxifying with “Millennial narcissism”, posting on behalf of others felt like earning carbon credits, an offset to my less-than-productive behavior.

While I felt better about my posts and engagements, I quickly found that my prosocial posts usually had less engagement than traditional ones, like selfies or candid shots of day-to-day life. They simply didn’t get noticed or were overlooked. Of course, that made sense. A prosocial post usually involves an “ask” — asking someone to click a link off-app or to make a donation, and in a parade of funny clips, news-breaks, and beautiful bodies, the humble “ask” often passes by unnoticed.

The question became this: could there be a way to makeover these “asks,” to make them social media feed “gives”? Or rather, could there even be a way to make all of my posts have some prosocial impact with benefit to others?

There had to be a way to make the relationship between “doing” social media and “doing good” seamless (there had to be a way to redemption!).

I hope we’re helping encourage that with Bidchat.

Bidchat is a two-way live broadcasting platform that enables anyone to interact with their followers. Anyone can watch the broadcasts for free, but viewers can also bid to meet the broadcaster in split screen. Whether the broadcaster is doing fan meet-and-greets or individualized makeup tutorials, every winning bid yields money that can be seamlessly given to important causes integrated into the app.

As we open up the platform to new broadcasters, we hope we’re giving everyone a tool to create incredible interactive content where they can monetize their talent, creativity, and expertise, all while giving back to a greater good.

For all of the bullying, trolling, and nasty things that can take place on the internet, for all of its supposed vapidity, there are some incredible shows of togetherness and humanity in response to global events. Whether tragic or triumphant- a national emergency or an inspiring phenomenon like the Ice Bucket Challenge- it’s pretty incredible to know that when we gather on the internet, there are some real-world results.

At present, social media can feel like a largely untapped resource, a form of energy that could be used towards more humanistic ends. But social media is here to stay, and it’s our job to engineer its future - I think that we will change it. For Good.