In the beginning of the month (on December 7, the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor), I received an email from a company that I had previously blogged about. They somehow landed on my radar and I found their application interesting. The subject line of the email read, “A Christmas present from the Triqle Team.” After a pleasant opening—“we love you, because of your involvement and feedback…”—they made me a fabulous offer. Of course, I couldn’t refuse.

In the next part of the email, they offered me a challenge:

“Let’s talk presents,” they wrote. “We would like to give something to you. However, therefore we must first know what you need. We challenge you: dare to ask! Who are you trying to get in touch with for some time? What sort of problems do you run into ever again? Or the answer to what question are you looking for? We will activate our whole network to answer your question. Will you take on this challenge? Sincerely, The Triqle Team,” the email said.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist the challenge. So, I replied:

“Very clever email. What I really want can’t be delivered by a network, or can it? I want people to be so content that they will stop warring and hungering and suffering. In case you can’t address my problem, I wish your team a very happy holiday season anyway. Thank you for your thoughts. Michelle Bruno.”

Believing that my reply would be the last word of the exchange, I was surprised to receive another email from my Not-So-Secret Santas the very next day:

“Very clever response too! 🙂 Did you ever hear about the many drops that are needed to create a wave in an ocean? Plus the fact that people are often trying to fit in with the ‘social standards’ of their peer group. In that way, we all can use our network to achieve your wishes. We have to personally lead by example and ‘make some noise.’ Start small: be content, peaceful and helpful in your own daily practice. Show and share your experiences so other people can follow. And confront people around you that are ‘warring.’ The world is not as big as it seemed anymore. I believe we do have the chance to make a difference by mobilizing our social networks. An example in a very practical way: our service “What’s On?” will be free of charge for events that ‘contribute to a better world.’ It’s the least we can do… 🙂 So let’s do both! We wish each other a very happy holiday season AND we start to lead by example in being content, peaceful and helpful. Are you with us? Cheers! Gerrit,” the email said.

So here’s my top one prediction for 2011 (and, I hope, 2012, 2013, and so on):

Social networks will save the world. We will connect with each other around the subjects we are passionate about. We will learn how much alike we really are. We will see that someone whom we never met in Amsterdam can turn a semi-skeptic into a true believer in Salt Lake City. And, things will change.

Happy holidays Gerrit. The world deserves to know how cool you (and your team) are.