Can Social Media Really End Hunger in America?

by M G · 2010-03-17 15:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Among hundreds of appearances by hipster tech geeks and indie bands at this week's South By Southwest festival (an annual event in Austin, Texas), one surprising presentation has generated its own share buzz. On Monday, a group of activists announced the launch of WeCanEndThis.com, an interactive web site designed to unite people working to eliminate hunger in America. My fellow blogger Greg Plotkin had a great preview of the site last week.

WeCanEndThis is a year-long campaign "to spark innovation and a broader engagement in the movement to end hunger in America," in the words of one of its creators. The folks behind the web site believe that part of the reason one in five Americans are "food insecure" is because of a lack of cooperation and innovation. Their site -- which already involves collaboration from major food companies like PepsiCo, ConAgra and Tyson as well as anti-hunger advocacy giants Feeding America and Share Our Strength -- is pitched as the solution.

The concept is clever, though many of the details of what the campaign will do are still unclear. Things kicked off with a push toward awareness, with people committing to donate, volunteer or spread the word about anti-hunger efforts in their own communities in hopes of winning a truckload of food for their state. As Greg wrote last week, the most intriguing part of the team's plans is a competition (username and password: sxsw) for the best new idea toward ending hunger (a concept similar to Change.org's Ideas for Change in America contest). The people with the best new ideas will win $1,000 each, and the team behind WeCanEndThis will work on putting the ideas into action.

It all sounds very exciting, but I will admit some skepticism as to how successful the campaign will be. I wholeheartedly agree with the group's baseline assumption that hunger is a solvable problem in the wealthiest country in the world. But the organizers are calling WeCanEndThis a one-year campaign, a time frame even the most optimistic part of me knows is way too short to make a significant dent in the hunger crisis. And although I welcome more social media and innovation on the advocacy scene, I question how much impact a national web site can have on the ground. Will a "food insecure" family feel the direct impact of the WeCanEndThis team's work a year from now? I hope so -- I've already directed a virtual can of food toward Washington, DC through the site.

Photo credit: sterlingpr

M G was most recently a staff reporter for The Washington Post, covering philanthropy and nonprofits, education and the war in Iraq.
PREVIOUS STORY:
America's Inexcusably High Maternal Death Rate
NEXT STORY:
Is the NCAA Putting Student Athletes at Risk?

COMMENTS (6)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.