Haiti Relief By The Tweet

The relief effort for Haiti is growing by tweets and bounds as social media takes fund-raising efforts to new levels. Twitter and Facebook helped the Red Cross raise more than $8 million as of today through their SMS campaign. “We never raised this much money with a mobile campaign,” said spokeswoman Carrie Housman, “especially $10 at a time.”

With hourly updates, many find it difficult to keep track of all the ways to support Haiti’s quake disaster. Here are some of the most popular and shared messages about relief efforts:

• Text HAITI to 90999. You will receive a confirmation before being charged $10, which will be added to your next cell phone bill. The money goes directly to the Red Cross.
• Text YELE to 501 501 and $5 will go toward Earthquake Relief in Haiti.
• Doctors Without Borders takes very little administrative costs. Doctors are already there. Visit the organization’s Web site to help out.
• Visit UNICEF’s site to make a donation.
• Text Habitat to 25383 to make a $10 donation to Habitat for Humanity’s immediate and long-term relief.

Seeing that friends are donating through these campaigns persuades others to feel safe about online donations. “People trust other folks who they know to give them advice and to help…harnessing energy,” says Professor Sree Sreenivasan. See Sreenivasan’s full interview about how social media is impacting the crisis in Haiti here:

Image via CNN

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