CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World »

Tom Watson is a journalist, media critic, entrepreneur, and blogger with a twenty-five year professional career that includes the cofounding of two companies and several popular online publications, bylines in more thana dozen major newspapers and magazines, and a history of innovation in media technology and online communities.

CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World

or today's super-wired, always-on, live-life-in-public young Americans, thecauses they support define who they are. Societal aspirations have so permeatedthe "net-native" population that causes have become akin to musical tastes, choices, and "blog bling." Redefining twenty-first-century activism, CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World identifies some of the best examples of the cause culture in action and will motivate you to launch yourself down the path of wired social change.

This authoritative book showcases wired causes in action—from Facebook causes and campaigns on MySpace to startups like Kiva, DonorsChoose, and Change.org. It covers the massive societal impact of online social networks in raising money for charity, changing the political climate, electing candidates, and raising consciousness for causes, from the local to the global.

Expertly describing how rapid advances in media and technology and in the ways you communicate are changing how you support causes, this insightful book:

• Suggests that what some refer to as online social activism and peer-to-peer philanthropy is quickly becoming an influential political and cultural sector

• Reveals how new technology and the human urge to communicate will create the basis for a golden age of activism and involvement

• Describes how increasing the reach of philanthropy improves the openness of government and our major social institutions

• Explores how a super-wired, socially networked cause will change how corporations approach consumers, how charities ask people for money, how candidates seek votes, and how ordinary Americans view their place in the world

• Shows how you can participate in organizations in a way never before possible—by organizing communities of donors, creating volunteer opportunities, and engaging in direct dialogue

• Offers real-world stories of success and introduces you to some of the people—famous and almost unknown—powering this movement

Causes matter to today's consumer and they especially matter to companies, to stock prices, to sales, and to brands. An empowering road map for anyone serious about understanding the social impact of causes on the social web, CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World will change how you respond to that underlying human impulse to help others by leveraging your online social network to effect positive change, improve your communities, and change your world.

Join the CausedWired Discussion: www.causedwired.com

Foreword.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

Chapter 1: Lost in the Flood: Wired Causes Rise.

Chapter 2: Friending for Good: The Facebook Philanthropists.

Chapter 3: Signing up to Fight Evil: The Network Acts.

Chapter 4: Portfolios for Change: Peer-to-Peer Philanthropy.

Chapter 5: Defined by Causes: The Public Lives of Millennials.

Chapter 6: From the Bottom Up: “The Order Is Rapidly Fading.”

Chapter 7: Spare the Paperwork: The Quick Rise of Flash Causes.

Chapter 8: Heralds of Change: Giving Goes Open Source.

Chapter 9: Aspiration and Activism: Armies of Online Leaders.

Chapter 10: Distributing the CauseWired Future.

Websites.

Further Reading.

Notes.

Index.