Social Media for Social Good 08.28.08

Austin Social Media Club is once again partnering with 501 Tech Club of Austin to enlist Twitter users in a community project. This time the beneficiary is the Capital Area Food Bank and the event is a HAM-up (September is Hunger Action Month). Tyson Foods issued a challenge on their Hunger Relief blog, offering to donate 100 pounds of protein for every comment posted, up to a full 35,000-pound truck load. Organizers were floored when the truck was filled in just six hours; comments topped out at over 600.

Beth Kanter challenged the 250 attendees at Gnomedex to raise $2,500 before the end of the two-day conference in order to send Cambodian student Leng Sopharath to college for her junior year. With Twitter working as the back channel, word of the fund-raising project spread far beyond the conference center in Seattle. At the 90-minute mark the fund had surpassed the goal; the final total raised was $3,774. The additional money will no doubt be put to good use in another one of Beth’s projects for Cambodian children.

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