Being Kind is AOK – You Can Even Get Free Coffee

Posted @ Aug. 10 2011 05:14PM by brian - arts-entertainment

Is it just us or is there a whole Kindness thing going on. You can see it in social media, TV commercials and even out on the streets. It seems like people everywhere are finding increasingly creative ways to showcase their personal brand of random kindness... In Seattle, one man commits $20 of hard-earned pay every month to mail four random people $5 each just to “spare a little drive-by love”. Last April, another kind fellow began a nationwide sojourn on foot, during which he’s serving up three days of kindness to one lucky family in each of the 50 States. And if you’re ever down, just Google “Acts of Kindness” for an instant jolt of humanity. Jonathan Stark wanted to see what would happen if he shared his Starbucks card with the world allowing people to use it to buy coffee or add money to it for others.

Whether it’s boredom, curiosity or simply looking to see the best in the Human condition there’s something in the water. So it’s only fitting that ‘social game’ which can be played on a on your Android or iPhone or online is dedicated to showcasing, sharing and incentivizing your acts and observations of kindness. The aptly named AOK, launched earlier this month after a group including actor/activistAdrian Grenier of Entourage fame got together to create a nifty free game where people get rewarded in a number of ways just for sharingtheir Acts and Observations of real world kindness. According to AOK’s CEO, Ira Liss, “We noticed that many people were posting a lot of cool status updates and tweets about what they were doing or seeing others doing for people, the planet and animals, and so created a fun way to make those small acts resonate even more.” Hence, AOK’s “Cause Currency” feature, whereby users direct accumulated AOK points towards real-world donations to charities and relief efforts. Last month money was donated to the Red Crosses relief efforts in Joplin, MO and this month to hunger relief in Somalia. They call it a “double whammy of good” since AOK players “act locally and impact globally”.

So while you’re probably already seeing your friends “checking in” to places don’t be surprised to see more AOKs getting shared in Facebook and Twitter. Just smile – it’s a good thing to see our friends being more AOK even if they’re just picking up *nastytrash.

Have you checked out AOK? What did you think? If you've done something kind or had something kind done for you recently we'd love to hear about that too. Don't forget, sharing and 'Like'ing content you enjoy is kind too ;)