By Naomi Hirabayashi, a Social Media Marketer at Attention

There have been growing conversations in the blogosphere about new media and the power it can play in social change. Take, for example, Blog Action Day on Wednesday, which had almost 13,000 blogs coming together to talk about one social issue—this year’s topic was poverty. With all of the blogs combined, an estimated 13.4 million readers learned more about poverty in one day!

As someone who is professionally immersed in the new media world, and personally interested in the nonprofit/social action realm, the fusion of the two spaces is something of great interest to me. But so many people outside of the industry don’t understand what the fuss is all about: Facebook is considered superficial, and various other online channels are scrutinized for devaluing real-world interactions. What the cynics don’t understand is the role social media can play in educating people on important issues, mobilizing activists, and increasing the visibility of passionate do-gooders around the globe.

Last Friday we hosted the first Changemakers/Changebloggers NYC meetup sponsored by DoSomething.org at the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York office. The event was affiliated with the Changebloggers Ning group and other national Changeblogger meetups including the Washington, DC event that took place on October 15 and the Philadelphia event happening on November 22.

About 30 changemakers (bloggers, nonprofit professionals, entrepreneurs, and generally interested folks) came together to discuss their specific causes and passions, projects and fundraisers they’re involved with, and challenges they’re facing—and how all that relates to blogging and social media. Attendees also learned some best practices from George Weiner, the Director of Technology at DoSomething.org.

This was just the first of many meetups. Our goal is to build a strong network of changemakers and bloggers who will come together once a month to increase awareness for specific causes, offer consultation to optimize online channels, highlight specific topics of interest, and in turn, produce real-world change.

To learn more, check out the NYC ChangeMakers Google Group. The next meetup is scheduled for Thursday, November 13—we hope you’ll join us!