How can you impact the world through the internet?

If you have a passion in this world and want to make a difference, how can you go about doing so in the most effective way? There are many great causes in this world and many thousands of people want to get involved, but due to their location, job or home situation, are not able to get involved as much as they would like. However this does not mean that there is nothing that can be done to help. The internet has opened up a whole world of opportunities to people who want to raise awareness about issues and change the world.

If you have a passion for something, such as animal rights, environmental issues, or a charity cause, but due to your situation you are unable to get directly involved in the cause as much as you would like, it does not mean that you cannot still make a difference. Here are a few ideas for things you could do with the power of the internet, from wherever you are in the world.

• Start a website or blog – raising awareness about an issue is vital for the success of any project, and this kind of work is always beneficial. If you want to help stop the suffering of animals around the world, you could start a blog in order to provide information about the subject and make more people aware of the issue. This could affect the situation in a very positive way by increasing the amount of people involved in the issue.

• Sell a product – Starting a small online business selling a product or service could be a great way for you to raise money for your desired cause, and in the process you will also be raising awareness.

• Social networking – The world of social media is a great tool for raising awareness and getting a message across to people. There are many advantages of going for this option, not least because it is free! If you can build a good page to highlight the cause that you are interested in, then you can potentially reach millions of people with your message without needing to pay for webhosting or advertising fees. One great thing about social networking sites, is that people are actually susceptible to read more about particular products, causes and events whilst browsing, as they are on there as part for leisure and are looking for interesting things to capture their attention.

• Donating and petitioning – There are a huge number of sites out there dedicated to raising money for causes, and donating money this way is the easiest and quickest way to get involved with helping those in need. Thanks to the internet, people no longer have to walk the streets and go door to door in order to get donations; it can be done from home and this way reaches the mass market. Petitions are also becoming more and more popular online these days, and they can have a big influence in overturning a decision.

• Sponsorship – In much the same way as you can donate and sign petitions online, you can also set up an online sponsorship page for people to easily sponsor your cause or event. As with all of these things, the easier it is for someone to get involved, the more success you will have. Instead of running around the office trying to get people to sponsor your marathon run to raise money for charity, you can now simply send out a group email!