AOL's bloggers' conference brings together young minds

BANGALORE, INDIA: It was a bloggers' day out at the Art of Living International Centre in Bangalore on Monday, when youth delegates and enthusiastic bloggers came together to deliberate on the power of 'Social Media for Social Good'.

Organized and hosted by The Art of living (AOL), the bloggers' conference, titled Make a Global Connection - Just Connect, saw participation by 837 bloggers and over 1,000 connections from over 10 countries, on YouTube.

The conference also resulted in bloggers forming communities to write on varied subjects impacting social transformation, like arts for a cause, everyday spirituality, sports, travel and vegetarian food.

During the occasion, spiritual guru and AOL founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also launched his blog (www.srisrispeaks.org).

Addressing the youth delegates, he said, "We are in a new era, where we don't depend on a group of people, journalists or newspapers. Blogs can really bring conflict in communities, friends, nations, families and on the other hand, it can also unite them. We should work with the intention of bridging the gap and inculcating human values."

Throwing more light on the conference, Chinky Sen, member of the organizing committee, said, "Recent times have seen the power of the social media in raising our voices against injustice or expressing our views on the events happening in the country as well as elsewhere. Here, our aim is to explore this powerful tool to spread goodness and hope and bring people together."

The conference was designed to promote blogs and other social media activities that create a positive social transformation and explore ways to promote a violence-free, stress free and crime free society.