New 'social impact scoring system' xocial spurs a movement of competitive kindness
How nice are you? Are you using your superpowers for the right reasons? There is a new online community that calculates and curates what it calls "competitive kindness" to help mere mortals out-nice each other, and make the world a better place.
Optimistic online community xocial (pronounced soh-shuhl) gives cause-conscious and otherwise kind-hearted individuals and companies the ability to do good, see good, feel good, and measure good.
The platform connects people, businesses, and organizations to causes they care about. It also inspires them to take action, and measures the impact of their efforts.
The idea is to compete to "out nice" each other. The tool calculates how nice they are (their social impact) and ranks them in a scoring system.
Cause-driven and otherwise kindness-oriented individuals, and socially responsible businesses have the ability to gauge how nice they are, and have the opportunity to participate in simple "positive social change challenges".
Participants continually build their "XO score" representing their social impact. Campaigns can be built online for free with no limitations on who can organize a campaign or join one already underway.
Search for a cause you care about, click to join, and compete in challenges to earn points. Each campaign organizer decides whether they want to offer prizes or special recognition for top-scoring participants.
Individuals can make a real difference; teamwork can be improved; businesses can establish hubs of corporate social responsibility, and amplify existing efforts; employers can create a more positive workplace culture.
Charities can increase fundraising, create more buzz, and attract, engage, and retain the next generation of do-gooders. In education, teachers can instill character-building lessons using technology to help others, and not just for "selfies".
The XO score methodology provides a benchmark that helps spur the spirit of competition -- the favorable kind where everyone ultimately wins. The numerical measurements allow users to compete with each other to see who can do the most good.
The XO score also puts the phenomenon of social media to more productive use. Instead of measuring popularity, xocial measures an individual's or organization's positive social impact.
CEO Colin Duetta said: "You build your score by completing challenges and engaging with others in the xocial community. It's a credit score for your soul. Xocial's goal is to channel the universal human drive to 'compete' into actions that benefit the causes an individual cares about."
Imagine that this competitive kindness movement inspires the next generation of social responsibility.
Whilst traditional philanthropy focuses on financial giving or attending one-off events, this platform could encourage first-timers to support social causes regardless of their level of skill, special interest, or financial status.
Anyone of us can become a superhero -- whether or not we have a cape. Its a nice idea that more of us should embrace.