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As someone who spends inordinate amounts of time on social media for work, I get to see both the negative and the positive aspects of each platform. Lots of people are focusing on the negative right now, adding to the fear and anxiety of our collective situation. I want to give a shoutout to a few people who are shining a light in the darkness and giving us a way to spread hope. Social media is helping us THRIVE during this crisis, if you know where to look. Take these ideas and use them in your own community. I swear, nobody will mind if you copy these ones. Social media provides an unparalleled opportunity to build community. Let’s do THAT right now.
Support Local Wait Staff
My friend Katelyn set up a Go Fund Me to support our local hospitality and wait staff. This pandemic is going to hit them hard as they’ll be the first to lose hours, if not jobs. Not to mention there’s a high probability of them getting sick due to dealing with so many people, and they won’t have paid leave.
Have an Online Scrabble Tournament
Gather up 16 of your closest social media friends and start a tournament on Scrabble Go. My Twitter friend EvilPez did this and I joined. So far I’ve made it to round 3!
A bunch of us Twitterers should get a Scrabble app and we can have a pandemic/ shut in tourney. Brackets and everything!
— Sack-Vegas!! (@sack_vegas) March 15, 2020
Learn About Animals with Cincinatti Zoo
Host a Watch Party on Facebook
Find a video you enjoyed on Facebook, preferably a longer one, and host a watch party with your friends or fans. This enables you to have your own chat room about the video with just the people who are watching. The video you choose has to be on Facebook, though, you can’t just pull in anything.
Livestream Local Fitness / Yoga / Dance classes
There are lots of studios trying to help their students/clients keep in shape while they’re closed by livestreaming some of their classes. Just do a quick search on your favourite local studios to see what they might be offering. I’ve even seen a few free art classes for kids shared about. Is there a celebrity fitness guru you’ve always wished you could workout with? Check their socials to see if they’re doing something.
Watch your Favourite Musical Act Live
Many artists are taking to Facebook Live to share their music in the wake of canceled shows. I saw Natalie McMaster doing a song in BC and Jann Arden offering up a mini concert on her official Facebook Page. John Legend went live on Instagram from his home piano.
Learn to Doodle
One of my favourite children’s authors, Mo Willems, is doing daily lunch doodles your kids can easily replicate. His videos are archived on YouTube, but you can keep up with him on Twitter. This is also a great series for would be children’s authors, or kids who want to create a book!
Listen to Olaf the Snowman Read a Bedtime Story
That’s right. Olaf voice actor Josh Gad is reading bedtime stories, live, on Twitter each night. Check out his Twitter profile, or here’s his version of The 3 Little Pigs.
Caremongering
I can’t consider this article complete without mentioning Caremongering, a movement started here in Canada to help others during the pandemic. Instead of spreading fear, they’re spreading kindness. Check Facebook to see if there’s one in your city, and if not, why not start one yourself!?
What other cool and interesting ways are you seeing social media bringing us together while we’re social distancing? Let me know in the comments so we can inspire others.
Love this post!
You have very good blog. Thanks! <3
Yeah, I agree with the writer here. Music and social media are two of the ways through which I am not panicking through this epidemic, and I hope that more people will realise the power of music now.