On this week's American Idol "Idol Gives Back" episode, more than 20 million Americans tuned in to help raise almost $45 million for causes around the world. Malaria was one of them, and donations toward the cause are expected to climb in the days leading up to World Malaria Day on April 25.
Beginning today to honor World Malaria Day on Sunday, Malaria No More, the Case Foundation, Twitter and the UN Special Envoy for Malaria's "Social Media Envoys" will activate tweets from all over the world to help end malaria deaths in Africa. Mosquito nets save lives, and now, so do tweets.
Every forty-five seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa. However, malaria is a completely preventable and treatable disease.
To show your support, please visit Hope140.org/endmalaria and:
- Retweet this message from @MalariaNoMore to make a $10 donation: RT: Malaria kills a child every 30 secs. Nets #endmalaria. So do RTs. RT2Give $10 http://rt2give.com/t/425
- If you already have an account on RT2Give, you'll receive a direct message asking for confirmation. If you don't have an account, Twitpay will send you an @reply message with simple instructions on how to enroll.
- Text 'NET' to 85944 to make a $10 donation to Malaria No More
- A $10 donation will be charged to your mobile phone bill. Messaging and data rates may apply.
- Add hashtag(s) #endmalaria, #malaria, #malariaday and/or #worldmalariaday to your tweets and the hashtags will trigger the addition of clickable mosquito icons to the tweet that will take you to Hope140.org/endmalaria
To further promote positive change through Twitter, the Case Foundation is matching each $10 donation up to $25,000 made through Twitpay's RT2Give service and text-to-give through Tuesday, April 27, giving Twitterers and texters the power to double their efforts to end malaria deaths in Africa.
"Through a donation platform that enables people to move from activism to action, the End Malaria campaign takes a transformative next step in leveraging the power of Twitter to raise both awareness and important funding," said Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation. "Twitter has already proven the power of social media to ignite awareness, and the Case Foundation is honored to be a part of this important initiative."
This is the second time Twitter has tweaked its tweets for a cause. The first time was to honor World AIDS Day last December by turning tweets red for the RED campaign, which became the most retweeted initiative at the time.
The Social Media Envoy group is chartered with inspiring and activating social media audiences throughout the year in support of malaria control. They are dedicated to utilizing their social profile to keep online and offline media audiences focused on the movement and milestones.
