Have you heard of this? It stands for "Humans of New York." 

Over 8 million people regularly follow HONY on various social media platforms. It's one of the most compelling--and addicting--examples of how social media is changing how we view our world.

If you haven't seen HONY, the concept is simple. A photographer travels around New York City taking pictures of people. And since it is New York City, those people are about as diverse, different and unique as any collection of people on the planet. 

But what is so surprising about HONY is not the diversity of the photographer's subjects, but rather the depth of human suffering, pain, and beauty that he is able to elicit from complete strangers willing to have their pictures taken--and their stories shared--for all the world to see and hear. He does this simply by asking open-ended questions. And amazingly, people answer.

A recent post was of a young, tattooed African American man who shared his struggles to simply talk to people because of the abuse he suffered as a child in foster care. Another haunting post shows two construction workers, and the question posed to one of them was simply, "What do you feel most guilty about in life?" The answer is as simple as it is stunning: "Going to Iraq and killing people."

Not all the posts are so serious. A cute picture of two elderly women shares: "This is my neighbor. She only speaks Mandarin, so we've never had a conversation. But she's brought me a handful of candy every day for 20 years."

 

Read more  (this time the link works!)