Health, Social Media

Social Media Changes Lives

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The other day, I received an email from a kid named Robert:

Hey Chris, you may not know me. I just recently started watching your live feed. I’m nineteen years old. I was born with a lung condition called Cystic Fibrosis. I am on the transplant list at University Of North Carolina. I will have to move up there with my dad for about 8-12 months. The insurance company covers the operation but does not cover living expenses and etc. I am currently taking donations and was wondering If you can do anything to help. Here is the link for donations.

I tweeted the link out and… people responded:

chrispirillo: Wanna try an experiment? How long will it take for you (my friends) to help me raise $1000 for http://bit.ly/GYZuk (let's try to help!)
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:30:47 +0000 2009
dette4556: I always worry about those types of things.. I would love to help though! But I just wonder if its legit?
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:35:23 +0000 2009
epicfotoguy: $40 pledged by me and @superpuppy for: http://bit.ly/GYZuk
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:38:08 +0000 2009
filipblank: sell one of your computers or monitors!! :)
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:38:12 +0000 2009
billgillam: I tossed 10 bucks to the cause.
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:38:31 +0000 2009
tulue_com: pledged!
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:42:08 +0000 2009
marsacademy: done my bit
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:42:10 +0000 2009
RottNKorpse: hopefully it won't take too long…but it jumped up about 200-300 in around 5 minutes .
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:43:03 +0000 2009
GettingWorse: done my little bit, hope that helps :)
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 05:58:51 +0000 2009
Humanety: Chris, we'd be happy to feature you on Humanety.com to help you raise funds for Robert. Please DM if interested.
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 06:09:27 +0000 2009
sccert: @chrispirillo
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 06:16:48 +0000 2009
sccert: what does append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes do
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 06:17:52 +0000 2009
binarypc: can't get to the link for Robert anymore. Any ideas?
about a day ago
Thu Feb 26 16:42:38 +0000 2009

Last night, I did an interview with Alfred.TV and.. check this out:

chrispirillo: Thanks to $700 donation by @adiblasi, we've given Robert a new set of lungs: http://bit.ly/GYZuk (social media for the WIN).
about 15 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 07:38:37 +0000 2009
virustricks: SWEEt I love it when thing like this
about 15 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 07:40:18 +0000 2009
fet0fetus: well wasn't that nice of al
about 15 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 07:41:07 +0000 2009
Cadco: Way to make it all happen Chris!
about 15 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 07:42:58 +0000 2009
Ninesvnsicks: WOW double lung transplant definitely social media ftw.
about 14 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 07:54:22 +0000 2009
NateSeites: That's so heart-warming.
about 14 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 07:59:05 +0000 2009
ttg2: that's great.
about 14 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 08:22:13 +0000 2009
MeghanButler: i love your top ten for tweating.
about 8 hours ago
Fri Feb 27 14:44:04 +0000 2009

So, maybe on a weekly (or monthly?) basis, we could do something similar for anybody in our community in need of help…?

chrispirillo: Thinking about picking up a small donation-related cause every week on Twitter. Changing lives is what social media is about.
about 54 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:49:06 +0000 2009
benjaminhirsch: Would be a great idea, I second.
about 53 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:49:45 +0000 2009
robynmcintyre: I was wondering if someone would do that – sounds like a great idea to me.
about 53 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:50:28 +0000 2009
Shih_Wei: That's a great idea! We do “dress down Fridays” for a different charity each week in our office. $3 or more.
about 52 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:50:35 +0000 2009
AskJamesHolmes: Great idea – the concept has worked i.e., @joelcomm tweet-a-thon
about 52 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:50:41 +0000 2009
canjar: Great idea. Easier to put together than a large event, and can sometimes have just as much of an impact.
about 52 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:51:09 +0000 2009
michaelowens: I'm not sure that's what social media is about, but that's a good thing for it to be utilized for.
about 52 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:51:18 +0000 2009
sciamachy: Good idea – mebbe link to various charities, or maybe various initiatives on justgiving.com?
about 51 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:51:51 +0000 2009
dougmcarthur: I work for the children's hospital foundation of manitoba … just throwing that out there.
about 51 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:51:56 +0000 2009
timmontech: sounds good. does that mean you'd have some kind of cause-related tweet every day. that'd make it cooler.
about 51 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:52:05 +0000 2009
gsmorrison: Good idea Chris. Use your power of influence for the greater good. Twitter just became useful – well played, sir.
about 48 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:54:39 +0000 2009
egoldstein: each week, whoever loses the most money in the market should receive a donation.
about 48 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:55:08 +0000 2009
MstrWhizrd: This is true but we're all not made out of money. I think you would get a better response if you did it once a month.
about 47 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:56:22 +0000 2009
jandrick: I raised 500 for my charity this week. http://zi.ma/6aca3b
about 46 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 21:57:17 +0000 2009
wiggsfly: cool idea!
about 32 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 22:11:16 +0000 2009
scottydc1: Chris, here's a lovely young (1st birthday in April) lady named Seniya, who'se family is in need. http://tinyurl.com/seniya
about 30 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 22:12:38 +0000 2009
ttg2: sounds good.
about 30 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 22:13:18 +0000 2009
scottydc1: And I did pledge toward the double lung transplant when you asked. Please consider Seniya and her fam. ScottyDC1
about 13 minutes ago
Fri Feb 27 22:29:43 +0000 2009