Today, when we were talking about being alone and together at the same time in media, it made me think of the change that our dear capital has faced during the past years. I would like to share some points why Helsinki is a great example of the fact that being home alone with our media has actually made us go out more and do things together. This might be because in my 25 years I’ve only been “an active citizen” (interested in things that are happening around me) about five years or so, but I’ve seen a change that social media has given us chance to make in our beloved city. And to prove that it’s not only my feeling, in 2011 Helsinki was rewarded as the most liveable city in the world (and has got other nominations after that as well).
It started with events like Ravintolapäivä (now internationally organized Restaurant Day) and different kinds of block parties around Helsinki. Restaurant day is a great example of these kinds of events; organized thoroughly in social media, people set up their own restaurants for one day and share their location in the web. Today, Restaurant day is a huge event that is organized four times a year and is now followed by such events as Siivouspäivä (Cleaning day) where people gather in different locations to sell their old stuff. Nowadays the amount of different events that take place in Helsinki and are organized in social media is so huge that in a summer weekend it’s impossible to decide where to go and what to do. There are different markets, concerts, block parties and other kinds of gatherings going on all the time and you won’t be able to visit even a half of them.
Of course, during our long winter time there are fewer things you can do, especially when there’s -10 degrees outside. However, these winter time events are emerging little by little and people maintain this feeling of doing things together and want to cherish it even though it’s cold and dark outside. Maybe it’s due to social media, maybe something else, but nowadays we are using the new media as a tools to make our city a place where we want to spend time and meet other people, not just a space through which we have to go by when heading from one place to another.
– Laura S.
Why I Heart My Media 