Google+ is full of interesting people doing extraordinary things. Carter Gibson, founder of the LittleBigFund, shared his success story as a Google+ celebrity trying to make a difference.
You could say that +
Carter Gibson is just an ordinary guy. He didn't join Google+ as an entrepreneur connecting with a new demographic or as a
celebrity appealing to his fans; he signed up at the beginning of the field trial in July 2011 while blogging as an
Ad Council intern. Even if it seemed a bit lonely at first,
he was attracted to Google+ for its promise of a social network built around sharing one’s own interests rather than appealing to others’. So far his Google+ story sounds pretty much exactly like everyone else’s, right? Luckily, I was able to have a chat with him via a
Google+ Hangout to see just what made his experience so unique.
“People follow me because they get to watch me go through life because I let them,” he told me. After joining a few Hangouts to meet new people, Carter noticed that a lot of strangers began circling him. Something about his energy and friendliness attracted other people, not to mention Google+'s own algorithms. which confirmed his status as a “Fun and Interesting” person by placing him in that
SUL (Suggested Users List) category. This promotion, especially in the early days when this feature was new and there weren't nearly as many high-profile users out there, caused his follower count (which he said was already a hefty 60,000) to explode.
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| Carter Gibson's profile on the 'Fun and Interesting' SUL |
“Have most of my followers come from the SUL?” Carter asked himself.
“Oh, absolutely, but to be added you have to prove that people like your content.” Though his
“About” section might have started out quite ordinary, his posts are bubbling with personality and it became clear that being “just” an ordinary guy meant more than being a statistic. He’s a guy who can drop an f-bomb in every other sentence yet come off as friendlier because of it. He loves Pokémon just as much as hitting up a club and doesn't mind talking about either. Google+ users gravitate towards him because he’s a relatable person who’s easy to approach and who cares about what he does. In some ways, you could call him a perfect example of how Google+ makes the ordinary special. When I asked him what he thinks set him apart from so many other users he replied,
“There are so many content-sharers out there that only push news... I create content and it’s sorta sad how novel that idea is.”
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| Beautifully-designed LittleBigFund website |
“My content is honest, revealing, and usually contain some sort of call to action.” Carter’s also a guy who doesn't want to rest on his laurels, and when more people started seeing his posts he felt like he could do something more. In
one post, he offered to donate $0.50 to the Red Cross for every person who circled him, and asked others to share the message forward. This was a big success and, a few years and a million followers later, he decided to go all out - by founding his own nonprofit.
“I recognized that I had been given a large audience and felt the need to do something with it.” Called +
thelittlebigfund ,
his organization promotes three respectable charities every month based around a certain topic (
June’s focus is LGBT advocacy) and asks people to contribute a small amount and vote for their favorite. At the end of the month, the most popular charity wins all of the donations. What sets this apart from other charitable organizations is connection - with an
active Google+ page and
Community as well as a strong encouragement to commit to monthly donations, the LittleBigFund is trying to make sure you see your money actually making a difference.
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| The LittleBigFund encourages monthly donations to increase personal impact and interaction |
Carter is thanking the Google+ community for his success and the launch of his own nonprofit.
“It isn't really the tools of the network - it’s the people.” If his story means anything, it’s that ordinary people can make a big difference; the LittleBigFund might just be the perfect way to do that.
Alex Ander
Alex loves messing around on the Internet, especially when he should be doing something else. If Google takes over the world, he'll be an early adopter.
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