The civil society revolution starts from Twitter

The civil society revolution starts from Twitter. This is the idea behind #WeWillGather, the  latest project by artist and writer Dan Thompson, who became extremely popular last year, after launching #RiotCleanUp and organizing a massive cleanup of London after last summer’s riots. He was also singled out by David Cameron as an example of great British leadership.

#WeWillGather allows anyone to start a positive action in their community and find other people to help complete it. It’s a simple tool to make change happen around us. It’s powered by Twitter and it’s extremely user friendly. All you have to do to use it is tweet with the hashtag #WeWillGather,  write the word “help” and the postcode where you plan to start your action. The website will automatically create a page for you and allow people to use their Facebook and Twitter accounts to sign up  and join your project of positive change in your community.

As Thompson underlined in his piece on the Guardian, #WeWillGather  was inspired by the huge success of  #RiotCleanUp which made him realize the power of people getting together to reach the same goal. “It was solid affirmation that you don’t need an organization to organize people.” He wrote. “You just need an idea and the tools to get people together”.

After all the British have just demonstrated their will to take action, during the Olympics when thousands of people volunteered to help the Games’ organization. “It is clear that people want to get stuck in and that, given the right tools, they will”.

So far #WeWillGather has been used for small things, such as cleaning a park or clearing overgrown steps outside a building but according to Thompson the small scale is important. “ It makes volunteering less formal and easier for busy people to do.”