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Community Corner

Tsunami 2.0: The Dragonfly Effect

Following the now infamous earthquake and tsunami in Japan, can social media be used for the social good of a country in crisis?

We’ve covered the  jockeying to steal honest donations to relief efforts for Japan and the celebrity Twitter scandals  ) and jokes about a national tragedy that led to public backlash. 

Now, it's time to get heady. 

Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith wrote about what they called “The Dragonfly Effect” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review recently. 

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This Dragonfly Effect, also explained in a book by the same name, was conceptualized before the natural disaster in Japan but this concept of social media being used to create a ripple effect that ends in social good is now being tested in Japan.   

According to Aaker and Smith, in order for a social media campaign to sustain a lasting impact on a cause for greater social good, it should satisfy four key elements: focus, grab attention, engage and take action. 

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Here’s a look at one social media campaign for the benefit of Japan that may or may not have all four bases covered, but could very well be on its way to achieving the Dragonfly Effect: 

#Quakebook 

2:46 Quakebook started as a project to create a book of the collective stories of those affected by the tsunami and earthquake in Japan, aptly named after the earthquake which struck Japan at 2:46pm on March 11.

A call to writers via the micro-blogging site Twitter was sent out soon after the disaster and was met with 74 submissions in 15 hours, according to the project’s official blog.  

Right off the bat, the 2:46 Quakebook project satisfied two of the Dragonfly Effect's elements in one swift swoop: a tweet that grabbed attention of 74 writers and those writers were engaged enough to take action and write-up a submission.

Interestingly enough, the focus element followed later. 

Perhaps it went something like this: What should we do with these submissions? what’s the goal, the focus of this project anyhow? Ah, let’s employ editors, designers, grass roots marketing gurus and scores more writers sans monetary compensation and make an actual book. All of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to the Japan Red Cross.

Well, perhaps it wasn’t quite as easy or seamless, but the fact that 2:46 Quakebook drew such attention, enthusiasm and progression in a matter of days is impressive.

Through creating an online social connection and moving beyond that to create within a real space a tangible object, the book, for a tangible cause--redeveloping Japan—2:46 Quakebook is one of the more creative ventures to achieve the Dragonfly Effect.

Stay tuned for another installment of Tsunami 2.0, and another social media campaign on its way to achieving “The Dragonfly Effect.”

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