posted
Jan 27, 2010 by News Gatherer
The first account I received about the massive 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti did not come from Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, or even the Huffington Post. I clicked assimilate her profile and discovered she had acquaint a link to an article about the earthquake on her page. I first learned about the earthquake in Haiti when a friend acquaint her condolences in her Facebook status.
Facebook page has over 94,000 fans, countless photos from inside Haiti, and, of course, the reminder to donate $5 by texting YELE to 501501. Yele Haiti has already raised over $2 million for the abatement efforts. Within an hour of the 7.0 earthquake – at least a quarter of my 2,300 facebook friends were posting instructions in their cachet for texting donations to Hatian born hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean's .
However, for those of us after the media appeal of the Wyclefs and Clooneys of the world, Facebook has become a able marketing tool. Oscar winner George Clooney and Wyclef Jeans wildly successful, record breaking Hope for Haiti telethon raised $58 million for the abatement efforts. For instance, on January 7, 2010, thousands of women listed their bra color as their Facebook cachet updates in response to a cyber chain letter daring them to "spread the wings of cancer awareness". Notably, the communicable nature of Facebook activity was angrily displayed during the 2008 election and cautiously leveraged by the Obama campaign to mobilize Facebook users to the polls. .
For many of — abnormally young people — our friends (even cyber friends living across the country) are added trusted sources of information than any of the big account networks or anchors. Unlike the myriad of account outlets, word of mouth has no competition. Regardless of the validity of such claims, these users were able to get their message out after competing with whatever the nightly account was telling people to do. While the networks were reminding viewers to donate $10 to the Red Cross Haiti Abatement Fund by texting HAITI to 90999, tons of facebook users were posting cautionary tales criticizing the Red Cross use of Katrina donations. Facebook has also risen as a citizen's watchdog, warning about fraudulent activity by those looking to accumulation from the global outpouring of assistance.
Simply by clicking the Home button, one can get a quick rundown of their Facebook friends' most recent activity. The greater the percentage of Facebook friends one has posting the same message, the added validity said message acquires. . Currently Facebook has over 21,000 Haiti related Facebook groups and pages – with millions of combined members and fans. Any information that makes it into the Facebook activity has the potential to ability as many – if not added – eyeballs as any network account report. Most people do not accept access to Katie Couric or Anderson Cooper to check up on their reporting, but we do accept access to our Facebook friends and the ability to column comments in response to any claims our Facebook friends make.
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