The Internet is in its new era. “Everyone is now in the position to realize his or her own dream,” I offered my interpretation of Web 2.0 in a conference early this year, “whether it’s being a Journalist, a Writer, a Photographer, a Movie Producer, or a Musician. It puts the context of freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly on a brand new level that was never possible before”.

The Web 2.0 Social Networking has demonstrated its capability of erasing all sorts of boundaries and connecting people across the globe regardless of their gender, age, belief, and ethnicity. The level of participation and creativity among members is nothing short of revolutionary.

If such a powerful platform can be engineered for lifting the tendency of “being good” and “doing good”, and sensed by its members as a community that the platform is truly by-the-members and for-the-members, the positive impact that each participant brings to the world is enormous. It offers a natural mechanism for the enlightening process for civic engagements that will ultimately enhance the realization of the responsibilities of the world citizenship, and enrich the social capitals that have been depleting over the past half century.

This is why I am so passionate about the social communities.

Tags: Civic engagement, Community, Social capital, Social Networking