— Sophie Card contributed with this report
Facebook has become the best way to find out what everyone’s up to and has become so infectious that it’s not uncommon to see many charities deciding to create pages on Facebook in the hope of benefiting from one of the most popular websites today.
One of the most successful Facebook campaigns was ‘Rage Against the X Factor’, which was launched in the run up for Christmas 2009. The aim was to get band Rage Against the Machine to the coveted Christmas number one spot, instead of X-Factor winner Joe Mcelderry.
Not only did it manage to attract enough visitors to prevent Mcelderry getting to the top spot, it also raised a phenomenal £101,000 towards homeless charity Shelter, proving that when everyone comes together to unite against a cause, anything is possible.
Charity ‘One Difference’ has created a page that has over 222,000 members, nearing their target of 250,000.
Their pledge states: “In celebration of 2010 World Water Day one of our trustees will fund a PlayPump in the name of our amazing Facebook community once we reach 250,000 fans. This will be your PlayPump bringing clean water to a village in Africa.”
The PlayPump will bring clean water to the village, whilst also providing children with a fun playtime. As children play on the pump’s roundabout, water is pumped into storage tanks and saved for the community.
The charity insists that there is no need for donations, as the support from Facebook members joining the group is enough to help make a difference.
Aside from the charities, there’s the weird and wonderful groups loved by so many, which is probably why the ‘Mystery Girl’ group was so popular. The group’s aim was to find the mystery girl who the page’s creator Keir Moffat met on a train from Bristol to Cardiff.
He says: “When I was driving home with my mate, I mentioned my regret and he said ‘Well, you know what they say, you’re never more than three people away from who you want to know’.
“I set up this Facebook group to see if my mate’s theory was true – to see if I could find the Mystery Train Girl and get a second chance.”
The group attracted over 14,000 members and raised over £1,000 for the Marie Curie Cancer trust. However, Kerr believes the search should now be called off: “I figured it was possible that she did not want to be found, pretty understandable, and that it was best to respect that.”
Whilst Kerr remains unable to locate the girl, the network of Facebook is forever growing, helping charities to gain support through modern technology, and uniting the world in many good causes.