A website with zero advertising and more than 39,000 monthly visits is highlighting the need for positive stories that elevate the human spirit, says KarmaTube co-founder Jenny Douglas.
Douglas, a writer and event curator in New York, along with Nipun Mehta, founder of CharityFocus and Paul Van Slambrouck, former editor of the Christian Science Monitor, developed the website KarmaTube more than three years ago with the goal of bringing to light inspirational stories and random acts of kindness taking place on a daily basis.
The stories are told by individuals through short video clips and are uploaded onto the website. KarmaTube co-ordinators then offer three simple suggestions for ways to support the action and spirit shown in the video.
For Douglas, a former journalist, working in the mainstream media was often “soul depleting,” focusing mostly on the horror of what’s taking place in world.
While Douglas contends these types of stories need to be seen in an unflinching way and addressed, she adds there are just as many other stories at our disposal that need to be highlighted, ones that capture human potential.
“I just realized, for me, those are the stories that I want to stand with and I want to help promote,” says Douglas, who adds the KarmaTube stories influence her own life, motivating her to be a better person.
The stories are also catalyzing change in others.
Douglas says after KarmaTube sends out a video its inbox receives a “shower” of e-mails from people sharing how the story helped them make changes within themselves and their communities.
“The ripples of these kinds of small acts are really just wonderful,” she says.
Mehta agrees, and says that KarmaTube, along with other social media projects undertaken by the organization, is providing a context for people to learn about other’s actions and empowering them to create their own ‘do something’ stories.
“(These stories) touch people; when people are touched, they share it with their friends, who then start with consuming content but soon turn into producers; and bit by bit the network expands, the movement grows, and cultural norms are shifted," he says.
Some of KarmaTube's videos have been viewed by more than 10,000 people. One video was watched by an audience of more than 27,000. The subscriber list is growing organically and strictly by word of mouth.
It’s these types of stories that will become increasingly important as people continue to be bombarded with information, adds Douglas. She says we are running the risk of information overload, which holds the potential of making us numb.
“I do feel in this world where information is just coming at us in this unfiltered way, in an ever-increasing speed, that the idea of slowing down and getting our information in the form of stories that make sense and can linger in the heart is going to be more important than ever,” she says.
To learn more about KarmaTube, click here.
To learn more about CharityFocus, visit www.charityfocus.org.
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