Search for the hashtag #socent and you'll find wide-ranging interest in social entrepreneurship on Twitter. Here's a roundup of a few thought-provoking tweets from the last week: #
Social media news blog Mashable (@mashable) informed us about this brash new website that had flown under our radar for its first month in business. MyDunkTank is a new crowdfunding venture with a saucy new model for soliciting donations. Fundraisers indicate how much money they want to raise, provide some information about the cause, and then wait for suggestions to come in. Donors create dares when they pledge money, and the highest-voted dare must be performed by the fundraiser to get the money. Check out a sample here. #
Be The One/Restore the Gulf (@1restorethegulf) is dedicated to restoring the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the disastrous oil spill. They’re collecting signatures for a petition that simply states, “I demand that a plan to restore America’s Gulf be fully funded and implemented for me and future generations.” And they’re using some innovative technology to get people to find it. They’ve printed a QR code (a barcode that can be read by smartphones) on hundreds of t-shirts, spread it across the Internet, and now, with the help of Reuters, displayed it on an enormous billboard in Times Square. #
See if your phone can read the tag, and read more about the movement on RestoreTheGulf.com. #
A new product from Microsoft called Hohm (@microsofthohm) lets users track their energy usage on their computers, and provides suggestions for cutting down on wasteful usage. This week, Microsoft unveiled the first device that homeowners can install to track their usage, manufactured by Blue Line Innovations. If this idea sounds familiar, it’s because Google has a similar product called Google Power Meter, which we covered on the roundup a few weeks ago. A little competition never hurt anyone — it’s good to see big players getting in on this promising idea. #
Thanks to Natalia Oberti Noguera (@nakisnakis), founder of Pipeline, for alerting us to this event at the White House on Tuesday. CNN reports that senior White House officials met with a group of 70 young (18- to 35-year-old) entrepreneurs and philanthropists, sharing ideas to inform the government’s social innovation initiatives. #
Did we miss any great tweets this week? Leave a comment here or tweet us @dowserDOTorg. #
