In an imperfect world, there is perfect opportunity for social good that stretches across borders and unites communities the world over. The best way to spreading a message, and creating social good, is to use the channels available from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and Pinterest.

The platforms offer access to millions of potential supporters, and that’s the beauty of the social good movement. I feel that most campaigns have the best intentions, and I fully support the End It Movement which inspired this post.

For those of you that don’t know today, February 27, has been deemed Shine a Light on Slavery Day; an effort to put an end to a $32 billion industry that has trapped 27 million people. Of that number, two children a day are added to the statistic, and regardless of culture, background or lack of government concern, the continuation of sex trafficking and slavery is unacceptable.

But here’s where the problem lies.

There has been an incredible outpouring of support, and the use of hashtags and keyword searches can prove it, but there’s a trick to social media, and I think social good falls victim to it everyday.

Again, I support the End It Movement, but I unfortunately feel that many of the red “X’s” appearing in social media streams around the world are being used for a different reason. Yes, each “X” is one more set of people potentially influenced, but with the way the hashtag works, each person that participates is seen “doing good.”

In my opinion, that’s not enough. Yes, in theory each “X” and each hashtag puts viewers one step closer to learning more about the movement, but at the same time the hashtag gets one step closer to trending, which burgeoning social media influencers constantly struggle to stay ahead of.

What I’m trying to say is this:

Please participate in the movement to end slavery around the world, but do it because you want to end it, not trend it

Social good is a beautiful thing, but saturating social media feeds runs the risk of creating indifference about topics, and we have to ensure that the conversation continues beyond the sharing of a picture.

Do good and do it with good intentions. For more information and to see how you can contribute to the End It Movement, I encourage you to look at their website and see how you can make a difference.

Images and information found in the End It Now Digital Toolkit.