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

Social Media Changes Lives