Technology All The Way

The holiday season is in on, and that means it’s time to share some of the comfort we enjoy year round with those who are a little less fortunate — and just to be nicer to people in general. This year, Yahoo has started a new drive called You In?, where it invites users worldwide to share their “purple acts of kindness” (purple is Yahoo’s official color).

Here is what Yahoo has got to say about its campaign:

“Help us create a ripple of good around the world with purple acts of kindness. Update your status to share what you’re doing to spread holiday joy, then inspire others to join you by asking, “You in?”

Yahoo! will also be doing our own purple acts of kindness inspired by your updates. So whether you pay for someone’s groceries or drop off a coat for the homeless, you’ll be encouraging people around the world to join in acts of kindness.”

The site revolves around briefly describing your good deed in a Yahoo status message, which is then plotted on a global map. Right now messages include things like “Connie is buying coffee for everyone at work today. You in?” and “Dropped off supplies to the local Humane Society and to the local women’s shelter”. And then there are gems like this one: “I just returned a case of wine that was mistakenly delivered to our house. Husband had to be dragged along w/this decision.”

The site also has a pool of Flickr images that people are using to share their acts of kindness.Aside from ‘You In?’, Yahoo also runs regular monthly campaigns though its Yahoo For Good program.

But the question that remains is that do we need a website to publish our altruistic actions? Are good deeds not supposed to be done in secret? Why publish such stuff? You either do something good or you dont. Do we have to brag about everything that we do on social networking sites and post images of them? I personally dont think there is anything wrong in doing so, but i cant find the right in it either.