In the wake of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, social media is proving once again to be a powerful tool for sharing information and raising funds in times of crisis.  Check out these stats:

• Three days after the earthquake, 3% of all blog posts were related to Haiti’s earthquake.
• By January 15, the American Red Cross’ Twitter account had gained more than 10,000 followers.
• By January 22, 42% of Facebook users in the United States had donated money or goods to aid Haiti relief  -  23% of these donors did so via text message.  
• More than $25 million has been raised for the American Red Cross’ relief effort in Haiti through $10-donations made by simply texting HAITI to 90999.

These figures help reinforce the belief that people turn to social media not just to consume information, but also to connect and engage in meaningful ways with organizations and each other.

Tags: blogs, Facebook, fundraising, Haiti, Social Media, text message, texting, Twitter

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 11:57 am and is filed under Interactive Media, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.