What is sure is that technological change is accelerating in all directions and, like children playing in a fountain, consumers are reveling in the experience.

How much do you as a consumer value a positive experience with a brand or its customer service department? How willing are you to share that with your friends? How inclined are you to let that person know that you're interaction with them was positive?

Consumers desiring a better world have already achieved some successes in this regard, helping to transform several industries from the ground up.

Some critics have challenged what the return on investment is for engagement in social media. Others have complained that the metrics don't exist to demonstrate value.

The false separation between living and giving must end.

Corporations, consumers, and citizens must begin acting in concert to create a powerful third pillar of social transformation if we hope to meet the social challenges we currently face with equal force. This begins with corporations that choose to alter how they practice capitalism in two ways to serve the greater good.

Technology is teaching us to be human again.