2011 Social Good Summit 'Storified'

On Tuesday, in a packed auditorium of young professionals, nonprofit and business leaders, and social entrepreneurs, I sat listening to Mashable founder and CEO Pete Cashmore and Elie Wiesel of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity kick off the second day of the 2011 Social Good Summit, which again this year is being presented by Mashable, the 92nd Street Y, and the UN Foundation, in conjunction with United Nations week in New York City.

According to the SGS site, the summit (watch the Livestream here) brings together a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss how innovative thinking and technology can solve our greatest challenges.

Wiesel -- who founded the New York City-based foundation with his wife, Marion, after he won the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace -- is not an actual user of social media. In fact, he mentioned that his favorite "machine" is the pen.  But he is an expert on justice and reconciliation, and he had a lot to say about how technology can both benefit society (as it did in the early stages of the Arab Spring revolutions) and be used to bully, intimidate, and abuse. When asked what people should do when they have the ability to influence millions via social media, Wiesel said that even if you have "the most perfect machine," it's imperative that you pay attention to the words and language you use and always respect those who are listening.

During the first two days of the summit, audience members and those watching via Livestream heard from Ted Turner, Charity: Water founder and CEO Scott Harrison, Idealist.org founder and executive director Ami Dar, Do Something CEO & "chief old person" Nancy Lublin, Howard Buffett (Warren's grandson), USAID administrator Raj Shah, and many others. For a full recap of the event, check out the Mashable site (here and here).

A final note: As a Generation Y attendee, even I was awed by the social media response to the summit. When, for example, Geena Davis, Serena Williams, and Lance Armstrong took the stage to discuss their respective social change efforts, the response was so immediate and overwhelming that their names quickly became trending topics on Twitter.

To help you navigate the first two days of the summit, I've "storified" a few of the most noteworthy tweets here: http://storify.com/pndblog/social-good-summit.

Did you attend the summit or watch via Livestream? What tools did you use to manage the flood of information? And what big ideas or initiatives were the stickiest? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

-- Regina Mahone