Your Guide to Goodness on the Web

Now that everything in the world seems bleak (and maybe is bleak — raise your hand if you're upside down on your mortgage), I suddenly notice that the Web is bursting with sites meant to turn those frowns upside down (as my first grade teacher would say).

Is it just that I've started working at one of them (this one!) and so am more tuned into such things, or is it really the case that the Internet is overflowing with good vibes? And not only good vibes, but do-gooding vibes. All around this series of tubes, people are sharing positive stories and enabling positive deeds. If you know where to get your news, you'll never have to hear anything gloomy again.

Here's your handy guide to the good on the Web. This list is only the tip of the iceberg, but it is a good start to get you feeling inspired.

Let's start right here, at Tonic, "The place where good lives — good news, good style, and good deeds." Check out all our good news, as well as the neat projects in our store, from which some of the proceeds go to charity.

Then we move on to Optimist World, a cheerful site that "brings you positive news which shows the very best of the human spirit and helps to show that good news can help to counteract the bad by reminding us what an amazing world we live in." My favorite part is a little bird logo on the right that says "100 per cent recycled negativity."

Along those same lines, the Good News Network (and not www.gnn.org, which will offer you a whole other kind of Good News) offers "a 'Daily Dose of News to Enthuse." The Good News Network is a clearinghouse for the gathering and dissemination of positive news stories from around the globe. Daily stories will confirm what we already believe — that good news itself is not in short supply; the advertising of it is."

Then there are the sites that aim to inspire people to goodness. Go Inspire Go, which I recently featured on Tonic, aims not only "to provide a global platform where people can see and share stories of inspiration" but also to inspire people "to better someone's life."

AOL's Philanthropy Project also aims to change lives. The goal of the multimedia site is "to enhance America's culture of generosity by inspiring and enabling every man, woman, and child to become a philanthropist. We are accomplishing this by using the moving image to tell the untold stories of our nation's 72,000 foundations and their innovative good works ... along with the stories of citizen philanthropists who are 'giving and glowing' in their communities nationwide."

Social networking can't be left off the list, considering its growing importance for philanthropy and social action. Causecast, a site still in Beta, "is a platform where media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose. People want to do good, want to be inspired, and want to inspire others to join them in giving back. Causecast makes this easy by providing users with means to CONNECT with people, leaders, charities, nonprofit organizations, and brands that inspire them."

Last but not least are those sites that actually connect readers with projects to help, represented in this list by the venerable GlobalGiving, "an online marketplace that connects you to the causes and countries you care about."

Now if all that's not enough to make your day a little brighter, you probably don't want to be cheered up. And in that case, I send you to the ultimate cynic's website, FMyLife, for some good old-fashioned griping. Positivity is not for everyone, though if it is your bag, start here at Tonic for the best in good.