Is This Smart 'BEAM' Button the Future of Philanthropy?

Most Millennials consider themselves social activists and want to make the world a better place, but our current culture of “clicktivism” leads to relatively little impact and blurs the line between boots-on-the-ground cause-based work and idle browsing. And, while the Internet and social media have catalyzed extraordinary movements like the Obama Campaign and electing LGBT candidates to office, meaningful person-to-person discourse is being replaced by blog posts and tweets, leading to more saying and less doing. How can we maximize the number of people doing and inspiring good offline, too? There’s a new IoT platform for that.

BEAM Authentic (BEAM), a new self-expression and social impact platform, has created an interesting way to bridge the digital and physical worlds that, if widely adopted, has the potential to both measurably increase our passion for public issues and turn that passion into physical action. It’s called a BEAM. A BEAM is a small, round, lightweight “social wearable” (think of a digital, dynamic, connected smart button) featuring an outward-facing display screen connected to a free app that dovetails on social media. It is the only wearable whose content (Beams) is entirely intended for others to see and interact with. What you’re “BEAMING” is meant to be synonymous with what you care about most.