Sociopreneurship Partner Alban Leveau-Vallier from Socialter : Using social media for social good.
Wednesday November 17, 2010 , 3 min Read
Alban is from Socialter who along with Olivier Cohen - de Timary travelled around the world talking to social entrepreneurs about social media. Socialter is the outreach partner for Sociopreneurship. Alban has written many articles for YourStory on their journey in India. We caught up with him to learn more about their journey and the insights from it.1) Why did you want to go on a journey to meet social entrepreneurs?
First I had a strong desire to travel. Second I wanted to investigate what new ventures are going on in the world. Third I myself want to be an entrepreneur. Fourth, awareness must be raised about social entrepreneurship.
2) What makes social media an efficient tool for achieving social goals?
Social media are an efficient tool for building communities, share information and therefore solve problems. They are free, collaborative and interactive, which makes them great to solve particular issues and to increase global knowledge.
With social media, organizations can solve crucial problems as recruiting new talents, find financing sources, increase their network and improve their branding.
3) Share your insights from your travel to different countries. Do you see differences and similarities
The main differences between countries are the spirit of entrepreneurship (very present in India or Colombia, not that much in France, for instance), the awareness to social issue (nearly absent in Russia, present in Argentina, for instance), the weigh of the state on society (low in Latin America, high in Russia...), the social issues.
Similarities : In all countries I have visited there is a lack of awareness on social problems as well as existing solutions, and the tools available to realize these solutions. People generally don't know what is going on in their countries. Some know about it, but they generally don't know that a solution is possible. If they know that a solution is possible, they generally don't know how to implement it... I would say raising awareness about social problems and their solutions is a major issue of our time and could have a phenomenal impact.
People are implementing interesting similar solutions to poverty in Latin America and India (bancos comunitarios and self help groups for example) but they don't know about each others.
4) What next for Socialter?
We have been all busy these times, we need new talents to give a new birth to the organization!
The aim of Socialter is to spread the good ideas using social media. As they travel, they spot interesting social entrepreneurs and then they write about them on the blog, make video about them, and spread their word and their good ideas through facebook and twitter. They also offer to advise them on the use of social media.