Back in May, we penned the original 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media. Though most of those first 10 are still relevant, the pace of innovation and advancement on the social web means many more have emerged in the past five months that deserve attention. These are the tools and resources that individuals, corporations, and nonprofits alike can use to communicate, create, and connect on the social web…for social change.

1. Blog It Out: When the die is cast on social media and final judgments are made, blogging will reign supreme as the single greatest force in Web 2.0. Whereas social networking is broad and shallow, blogging is deep and focused. That’s the power behind Blog Action Day, which takes place this Wednesday, October 15th, 2008. It’s a day when bloggers the world over draw attention to a single issue and (hopefully) inspire action. This year’s topic is poverty. And given the current financial crisis, it would seem many bloggers have gotten a head start.

2. Twitter Green Events: In the first 10 Ways, we wrote about the Twitter greenstream, a tagging mechanism that organizes and aggregates Twitter messages (Tweets) about doing green things. What’s evolved since then is the widespread use of unique Twitter tags at events. Most recently, we covered West Coast Green by tagging our Tweets with #wcg08. This helps people at the event to find and meet up with fellow Twitter folk. It also enables those who aren’t attending the event to follow what’s going on and what’s being said in real time. There are a couple ways to do this. One is to follow through Twitter Search (formerly Summize), where you can track keywords and tags. Another is to send a Tweet as follows: “track word: [insert keyword]“. And then you’ll start receiving all Tweets with that tag or keyword directly into your feed.

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I’ll admit it: I am one of those Californians that everyone loves to hate. I left the “Golden State” and am considering buying a house in another state because, as radio host Garrison Keillor might say, outside of California, “all the women are strong, the mountains are good-looking, and all the Real Estate prices are below California’s average.”

But whether you're a peregrinating Californian or any other homebuyer or seller, consider this: you can generate a huge donation to the non-profit of your choice by working through a company called HomeGift Realty. With a $300,000 home, for example, you can put aside as much as $1,312.50 for your favorite non-profit at no cost to you.

I was introduced to HomeGift Realty via Care2.com’s daily action site. The day after filling out Care2’s “Get Started Now” form, I received a phone call from a very pleasant lady with HomeGift Realty. We chatted about sustainable architecture, and since I didn’t already have a realtor with knowledge of green homes, she put me in touch with one in my area. The realtor benefits by gaining a client and in exchange she agrees to let me donate a percentage of her commission to charity. I love win-win situations.

To learn more about how to use the purchase or sale of your next home to generate funding for the non-profit of your choice, visit HomeGift Realty or Care2.com.

Another exciting green option for homebuyers comes from the increasing presence of green homes on the market. Make sure to ask your Real Estate agent about green buildings in your area. To see what makes a home green, take a look at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. If your house is a greener-upper, you can get tips and information on making it more environmentally friendly in the Green Home Guide as well as on HGTV's Green Home, where next year you will also be able to enter to win a fully-furnished green home. If you're not sure where to go to purchase the items you'll need to green your home, you can find a great number of them online at greenhome.com. So, with all this in mind, why not throw a house greening party?

References:

HomeGift Realty: www.homegift.com

Care2's HomeCash For Charity: via www.care2.com

Green Home Building: www.greenhomebuilding.com

The Green Home Guide: www.greenhomeguide.com

U.S. Green Building Council's LEED system: www.usgbc.org

HGTV's Green Home program: www.hgtv.com/hgtv/green_home

Green Home: www.greenhome.com

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/terretta/213584770/