Last Christmas, The Chicago Tribune published
tot to toddler to teen toy alerts about bargain toys and jewelry imported from China containing potentially toxic lead paint or finish. In Tidbits around that time, I wrote about the
mobile phone tool from
MomsRising.org that lets buyers anywhere check toy safety through an interactive database. You can send a query via text message, and instantly get an answer back via text message back -- a boon to busy shoppers.
This year, the threat is different. The current toxic product is a variety of candy from China that contains melamine, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned consumers not to eat. I don't have kids at home these days, but I surely don't want to be guilty of passing off dangerous Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters. MomsRising.org has risen to the occasion with a Candy watch page.
This page is a great example of how news can be integrated with social features to help a community when the news presents a problem. It provides images of the tainted candy, an explanation of why the candy -- and melamine -- is harmful (with links to nonprofit consumer services and government agency sites), downloadable flyers of bad candy alerts, and even a tool to e-mail the alert to friends and family.
This is citizen and community journalism at its simplest -- and best. It tells the reader, "Don't get scared, get active." This is much more constructive than scary news stories that paralyze readers. Instead, it offers response options that require varying amounts of effort and connection to a larger community. In short, it empowers consumers.
