To attend the 10 day Film, Music, and Interactive conference in Austin Texas, known as SXSW is to be thrown into a swirl of information, glimpses of the future, and tens of thousands of people passionate about the arts, technology, and how our lives are impacted by both.

The Interactive component of the conference (SXSWi) runs 5 days and two days in, my head is already swirling with the ideas, innovations, and amazing people that I've run into at the Austin Convention Center.

One of the most interesting was an informal talk given by two people from the U.N.'s UNICEF program. The talk centered on ways of applying the best practices of multinational corporations to the supply-chain and distribution models of non-profit heathcare and medical aid. One of the most fascinating bits of information to come out of the discussion was the mention of Ushahidi - a free and open-source technology platform that allows anyone to gather data via SMS, email, or web, and visualize it on a map or timeline. Developed after the violence after Kenya's 2007 election as a way for people to anonymously report violence or terrorist acts, it proved its value after the recent earthquake in Haiti and again in Chile.

Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili, is a brilliant example of the "many-to-many" communication model of social media. A model that is changing everything we knew to be true about how people communicate and interact.

This is a technology that can give a remarkable power to masses of people - a power that until recently belonged only to a fortunate few - the power to bear witness.

The balance of power is shifting. We're all focused on using it to do well. I'd like to think that we'll also focus on using it to do good.