In anticipation of the WhoLinksToMe.com Pro launch at SXSW we’ve put together Austin Texas travel guides to help those attending the festival make the most of their few days in Austin. It’s a local’s look at what makes Austin a truly one-of-a-kind city that keeps people coming back for more.

Check out the video to get a glimpse of the city then delve into the details with our full guide and maps that help you find your way around town.

What to See During South by Southwest

A big THANK YOU goes out to local band Uncle Lucius for supplying us with the awesome soundtrack ‘Everybody Got Soul’ to accompany the video.

Is this the man behind our change in goodwill?

Scanning Google’s blog today I came across two different examples of the company making a legitimate effort to do right for the world outside of their standard business model. The first, GoogleServe: Thinking globally and serving locally, detailed Google’s greater efforts over the past few weeks to help better the environment and the world’s more famished communities through a series of hands-on projects. Four days later, Paul Rademacher and Adam Sah posted a blog titled All for Good: Bringing Search, Scale and Openness to community service.

All for Good, more of the teach-a-man-to-fish variety than the more temporary (and far less extensive) efforts of GoogleServe, was built by Google, Craigslist, UCLA, YouTube, FanFeedr and Aha! under the premise that we can do more to make volunteering and community service widely available to the public. Non-profit programs that specialize in building up the community generally have small web presences and operate in low-tech ways, but there’s no reason that their accessibility can’t be enhanced.

Though not entirely completed, All for Good is already at the point where it can help potential volunteers find programs both near and far that are looking for helpers. One visit to the site immediately shows opportunities to help at food pantries, child care centers, book drives and French litigation museums. And, because Google played a major role in its development, All for Good is strapped with a Google Map to make searching and locating different volunteer opportunities even easier.

It got me thinking, though. President Obama has spent much of his presidential tenure preaching the virtues of service, and in the wake of the economy’s tumbling, we’re starting to see a number of companies changing their public strategies to take on more of a humanitarian – or less money-driven – personality. Essentially, companies acting out of goodwill, or at least trying to encourage that perception, are starting to make a much more prevalent mark on the public scene.

Now, this is hardly Google’s first rodeo. They adopted the unofficial motto of “Don’t Be Evil” back in 2001 and have gotten a great deal of attention for their moral compass over the years. Mashable picked up on the trend this year, instituting the Summer of Social Good, a “large scale online charitable campaign to raise funds strictly online through the power of Social Media.” It’s not the only way social media is changing the world.

For hard evidence of this change in ideology one need look no further than IBM’s ad campaign, “Building a Smarter Planet,” which has encouraged the public to be more energy efficient and, well, smarter, with the way the world works.

The auto-industry is singing a similar tune, as GM’s most recent, post-bankruptcy ad campaign has suggested. Check out BMW’s new All-Electric Mini-Coopers and Toyota’s Lithium-ion Battery Run Prius, as well.

Other companies, like TOMS Shoes, have made it their business to help in more lo-tech forms. They donate a pair of shoes to a child in need every time you buy yourself a pair. Chegg.com plants a tree every time you rent a book through the site.

On a different playing field entirely, the Ice Cream Man has spent the past few years operating under the “We Like You!” motto. He drives around the country handing out ice cream to concert goers.

"Make People Happy!" - Photo by Matthias Ingimarsson

Yes, most of the companies we’ve touched on are making profits. True, also, that the greater percentage of each company’s income is not directly the result of the initiatives and programs that have been mentioned above. But the fact remains: across every medium, people are starting to understand that you can’t help only yourself any longer. Kudos to each of these organizations for doing their part to make the world a better place, for today and the future.

Is this a trend that you’ve been noticing, too? What other companies have you seen showing a more humanistic side since Google started setting the bar?

Operation: Clean Up Lady Bird Lake!

Look at all that trash!

If you get some time today, make an effort to get out and do Mother Nature a favor. It’s really amazing how much trash accumulates in places like riverbanks and streets, but we can all do our part to make our communities healthier and more beautiful.

Enjoy the photos!

Two Star Nine Environmentalists

Almost got it!

Havilah does "Cousin It" impression as she cleans up Lady Bird Lake on Earth Day 2009

The good people of Austin, Texas couldn't wait to get to work

We got t-shirts, too!

Austin, you deserve the cleanest riverbanks!

The Donation Pick-Up from WhoLinksToMe.com
It was a gorgeous day in Austin, Texas where the sky was extremely big and blue.

When we arrived at Uncle Bob’s Storage Unit, where the bottled water was housed, we were quickly thankful for the invention of the pallet jack and people who know how to operate it — namely Steve!

Capital Area Food Bank loaded each pallet onto the truck. Once the bottled water was loaded, we headed over to Capital Area Food Bank where Dana Shelton, Director of Food Resources, provided WhoLinksToMe.com with a tour of the facility.

The Tour of Capital Area Food Bank

The tour was great. In addition to learning that many Central Texas families are finding themselves in need of Capital Area Food Bank’s services for the first time, it was humbling to learn the CAFB distributed over 17.4 million pounds last year alone! It further confirmed our choice in supporting this organization through a donation.

Capital Area Food Bank accepts donations in food and monetary contributions. With Austin facing current economic challenges, WhoLinksToMe.com encourages you to join us by donating food or donating money to the Capital Area Food Bank’s efforts!