Last week I posted a ‘No Makeup Selfie’ on Facebook. Now as you may have noticed I’m an overweight, beauty-challenged, balding bloke, so my post read as follows:
Feeling left out, so here’s my picture without makeup…by which I mean coffee
The thing I really like about this sort of stuff is the way that we as community all get involved. Although my ‘Selfie’ was clearly ironic, I still donated £3 to Cancer Research UK because that’s what you’re meant to do. It’s a fun way of getting behind a cause – I originally thought that whoever came up with this at Cancer Research UK was a genius – it turns out Cancer Research UK have no idea where the idea spawned, meaning that this has been an organic creation by supporters…how cool is that?
It comes at the same time as I have watched Sport Relief. Again this is clearly ironic, as I have the physical and sporting capabilities of a drugged sloth on a Sunday, but again it is a clear example of masses of people rallying behind a cause.
In a different way I have seen this with MH370, the missing Malaysian Aircraft, but this time on a governmental scale – so many countries are sending air and sea craft over to join the search, in spite of the significant costs of doing so. The cynical might say it’s all to be seen to be doing the right thing, but I like to think that whatever the government, it is made up of people and those people desire good in this world.
It gives me hope for humankind that this takes place because it reflects the inner good in us all.
What I love even more is that modern technology has only helped to promote these causes further – every cause now has a #hashtag, a Facebook page to like, even Instagram accounts. We read the stories on the train or bus to work, and we check their web pages to get more insight.
And then, and this is the crucial part, we participate. We become a part of the solution.
Business too needs to be part of the solution – Sport Relief and Comic Relief are great examples of how many businesses join forces under the banner of charity to do some good in this world. Again you could choose to be cynical about this, but we all know (and in many cases ARE) the individuals who get involved, and these people are always passionate in a way that can’t be faked.
We can be involved – Maybe my ‘No-coffee selfie’ could trigger the next round of imaginative viral charity – looking for substitutes for no makeup.
It is in this spirit that Flint Hosts are soon to launch Flint|Charity. We will host charities websites on our shared servers at no cost, or on our cloud servers at a 50% discount. Check out the website here for full T’s & C’s and let your charity know about Flint|Charity!