Cause Bandwidth

Halifax is truly a great city.

Something fascinating is happening in our city and it is being propelled further and faster by social networking. At least it seems so.

Case(s) in point;

Citizens For Halifax
East Coast Connected
Fusion Halifax

The above three groups are great examples of new (less than 6 months old) initiatives fueled by people who love Halifax and want to make it better. Virtually overnight, these groups have attracted 100's of members, in one case over 500, in another over 1500. The dialog on these sites is passionate, comes from a diverse group of people, and is overwhelmingly positive.

Social Networking has been a very effective medium to communicate and recruit members to join these initiatives. The challenge, similar to any initiative, is to continue to offer compelling messages and challenges to members and sustain momentum.

It is interesting to me, that these new initiatives inadvertently challenge existing initiatives in Halifax by draining some of the "cause bandwidth" the active members had if any for the existing causes. This is not a bad thing. Renewal is necessary, as is attracting new and often younger people to the various causes.

Some existing initiatives have jumped on the social networking bandwagon to attempt to tap into the medium. I suspect that take up will be modest. Why ? Their messages are somewhat dated, the language is somehow out of step with the language of the 20 and 30 somethings, the clock speed of the existing initiatives is s l o w e r that that of the new ones.

Are we observing the beginnings of a "turn over" or "take over" or "migration" of our great city's causes by a newer younger more passionate group of Haligonians ? A rapid migration I think.

It will be fascinating to track the momentum of the new and the old.

Dan MacDonald