a community proving humanity is good

When we started this journey, we weren’t sure exactly what to expect. We believed that people would come along with us on this quest to find purpose through generosity (Purposity), but we didn’t quite conceptualize how quickly our idea would spread.

There’s actually something called the paradox of generosity. Simply stated, it refers to the idea that by not caring for someone else, we end up not caring for ourselves. In fact, there’s a book about it aptly named The Generosity Paradox: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose (2014).

Over the past week we’ve watched our neighbors in Texas devastated by one of the worst storms in the state’s history. Today we’re launching Purposity’s first-ever disaster relief effort for those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

As Katerina Fake explains it, the idea of creating Flickr came from a search to find others interested in her favorite author. Living in New Jersey, there weren’t many people interested in debating the works of Jorge Luis Borges. But, an online forum connected her to a community of Borges’ admirers in Europe, allowing her to feel like part of a community. From that feeling, Fake later went on to create several technologies to build online community. She wanted to share that feeling with others. Flickr is arguably the forefather of social media as we know it, and it sprang from the need to connect.

You may have noticed a few (actually, quite a few) new options when visiting your Purposity page lately. A few months ago we launched personal profiles. Since then, we’ve been working hard to make sure users got exactly what they asked for. Here’s the list of our newest features, designed with you in mind.

Gaming has been shown to build stronger connections. Now, we’re not giving you an excuse to lock yourself in a dark room for days on end, ignoring the world. But, the Pew Research Center found gaming an integral part of connectivity for teens, especially boys. For online teen gamers, 78% say gaming makes them feel more connected to friends they already have. That number represents 42% of teens between ages 13 and 17. Over half say they feel more connected to gamers who aren’t their offline friends. For 38% of boys who game, their handle is among the first three pieces of information they share with someone they’re hoping to befriend. That’s significant.