The celebrities have found a unique way to draw the attention of the world towards some of the social issues which are important to all of us. This online campaign, like most of the other campaigns involves the power of social networking, but with a slight difference. This time, the entertainers which include Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher and other celebrities like Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson and Serena Williams have decided to temporarily sign off of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This move is a part of $1 million fundraiser activity for World AIDS Day which takes place on December 1. The participants will sign back on when the charity raises $1 million. The campaign which is called as Digital Life Sacrifice is organized by Alicia Keys on behalf of her charity Keep a Child Alive.
Further, to raise the awareness about the campaign, these celebrities will feature in the “last tweet and testament” videos which will show them lying in coffins – to represent what the campaign calls as digital deaths. These videos will be tweeted out to their followers before the celebrities actually sign off.
Social Networking has given all of us a unique way to communicate directly with our friends and followers. Its praiseworthy that the celebrities are using this opportunity to raise their concern about the social issues which we face today, to draw the attention of the millions of the fans and to elicit some response from them. Clearly it’s a Win-Win situation for both the parties- celebrities as well as the beneficiaries from such campaigns. But thanks to ubiquity of Social Networking, we don’t need to be a celebrity to show the support for a good cause. In the near future, I feel that we will see some more innovative methods to mix the social networking with charities and non-profits. And as long as these campaigns are able to produce desired results, they are on the right track. So what do you think about the effect of Social media on such initiatives?
