The media gets a bad rap sometimes. Sometimes this is well deserved. Pockets of the media have been known to share some inappropriate content for the sake of sales, hits or views.

One photo can be enough to negatively effect an individual or organisations future, with ripples through out their personal circles, which will never be forgotten.  The media is powerful tool for evil, without any consideration of the damage done in the cut throat struggle for dominance in the 24 hour news cycle.

The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses. – Malcom x

However sometimes, the media gets it very right. And they rarely get enough credit for doing so.

Take for example the recent photo of an exhausted Syrian man, holding his sleeping child over his shoulder, which was shared by Gissur Simonarson to his then 6000 followers on twitter. (Simonarson now has 11,500 followers since sharing the now famous photo)

After 2 days of sharing and searching and with the help of his followers, Simonarson was not only able to find the man in the photo, Mr. Abdul Halim, a Syrian refugee and single father of 2, but also set up a fundraising campaign using the hashtag #buypens.  The total of this fundraiser now stands at over $190,000, raised in only the first 3 weeks. Halim intends to pay it forward to other Syrian refugees, stating “I want to use any money I get to help other Syrians. “What’s for me is for them.”

Just like the impact when a negative story or image is shared in the media has a ripple effect, so does a positive story.

Social media is not about the exploitation of technology but service to community. – Simon Mainwaring

Yes, Simonarson did a wonderful thing in finding and helping Halim get his life back together, but thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people were also affected, positively for a change. It was bigger than one man and his family. Over 7000 people donated to the campaign, so far.  Halim intends to share the proceeds of the fundraiser to help support other Syrian refugees, and an infinite number of people across the world would have read his story and have a greater understanding of how the crisis in Syria is effecting people on the ground.

In the midst of a devastating crisis, and a horrific news cycle, one person, Halim, going about his daily business trying to feed his children, inspired another, Simonarson, an activist with a large following and fortunately helpful friends, to make a huge difference. It brought the Syrian refugee crisis into the homes of people across the world via social media, getting the attention of the mainstream media in the process.

This is a good news story and the perfect example of the power of Twitter and social media in general, a case study in successful crowd funding campaigns and a wonderful example of strangers helping strangers in their time of need. A confirmation that there is good in the world, and that sometimes the worst of times bring out the best in people.

I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.  – Tom Stoppard