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creativecommons.org/by Damien BasileOriginally posted on huffingtonpost.com.

Corporate social responsibility looks a whole lot different now than it did a few years ago. Back then, the emphasis was on responsibility—look at all the good things we’re doing!—and on corporate, since so much of its DNA was based on business practices and funded by corporate largess. Lavish one-off benefit events with five-figure price tags paid for by sponsors such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers? That feels as 2007 as that bright, shiny new skyscraper sitting empty in Dubai.

Now the focus is on social. Think about it: In 2010, social networks are central in our lives. Our networks have been redefined based on our voice power—it’s not about whom we can seek advice from over coffee but about whom we can influence online. These communities of our own creation are now who we know and how we reach people.

Along those lines, social media has done more to promote causes, generate awareness and raise funds than any tool before it. Its advantage is that social action is involved at the ready. People can get involved in ways that are immediate and meaningful. The bar to enter is lowered, and the process has been democratized: You don’t have to pony up $100 for a benefit ticket; you just have to use a tool you’re already using, such as Twitter or your cell phone, to make a microdonation or to spread the word. The Red Cross raised more than $5 million for Haiti through text message in the first two days.

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