Imagine if every post you ever made on Facebook or Twitter could be monetised into micro-donations for a cause you care deeply about. Imagine, instead of toxic trolls and constant conflict, there was a social network that focused on what good we could do for the world, instead of what bad is currently happening to it.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

As we all continue to hurdle through our usual social networks, dodging fake news and advertisements along the way, I can’t be the only one who feels a need to hit reset on my digital life.

According to the Pew Research Center, almost two-thirds of Americans think that social media has a mostly negative impact on the state of their country.

The original concept for social networks was to bring people together: to connect communities, causes, friends and families from around the world.

Over the last decade that vision has been lost, and now inspires more conflict than collaboration.

There are of course case studies that show the positives. While we’ve all had negative experiences on social media, we’ve all had positive ones too. This shows that, despite the toxic environment we now find ourselves in, there is still potential for a social media for the social good.

This is increasingly important during the COVID-19 era. It has been well reported that, like most sectors, charities and NGOs are facing an existential crisis. At the same time, we are spending more time online than ever before. 

If we could unite the world around causes close to our hearts through the thing we engage with the most – social media – we have the potential to change our digital lives and help those urgently in need in one fell swoop. 

This isn’t about boycotting global online powerhouses like Facebook. They are all indispensable parts of the lives of billions of people. 

What they lack, however, is a mechanism where our social ramblings, our photos of friends, families and pets and our digital reality can also be used to support charities on a day-to-day basis, whether they be global NGOs or local foodbanks. 

Engagement is yet to be truly monetised by the third sector in a way that profit-oriented industries already have.

Instead of that ‘like’ on a photo of your graduation, what if you could nominate a charity and your friends and followers donated 20 cents to that cause instead? No big commitments and no behavioural change – you’re simply doing what you already do – but supporting cherished causes simultaneously. 

A new social network launching in 2021, GoPoolit, will allow you and your online community to do exactly that. On each post a user makes, they nominate a cause close to their heart – providing the ability for their social media contacts to ‘pool’ a micro-donation if they like the content posted.

In a time when face-to-face fundraising is becoming a thing of the past and precarious economic times fuel ambivalence towards regular gifts, the ‘chip in when you can’ approach needs to be taken to the social media sphere, instead of being the reserve of tins next to supermarket kiosks. 

Joining GoPoolit is a risk-free strategy for charities looking to diversify their income stream and harness their pre-existing digital base – while adding to it every day. It’s a platform fit for the future and ahead of the curve when compared to pre-existing digital fundraising platforms. Not only does it bring unlimited potential for charities seeking to expand their reach and secure extra income, but it also has the potential to change the way we all use social media – for good. 

Matt Turner is Director of Communications for GoPoolit, a new digital fundraising solution connecting donors and charities across the world.