Mainstream media thinks about social media: whether to crush it, whether to join it, whether to just ignore it. Marketers wonder whether they should use it as a new way to reach customers. Oh, maybe social media is about peas. Bear with me.
To set the stage, Susan Reynolds[115] is an artist, a creative soul, and I met her earlier in 2007 via Twitter. She is part of the more "social" side of Twitter, keeping up with Ann Ohio and the gang. I know that Susan also gets into Second Life and that circle.
Only, one day, she learned that she had breast cancer. It all went fast, and the doctors gave her the big once-over. And after "a full afternoon of multiple stab wounds," as she puts it,[116] Susan learned that putting ice on her chest would help with the bleeding and the swelling and the pain.
Suddenly, Twitter was all about peas. Let me explain.
The Frozen Pea Fund[117] started Friday, December 21, 2007, to raise money for breast cancer research in Susan's name. Its a message was spread by Robert Scoble,[118] Shel Israel,[119] Jon Swanson,[120] and Connie Reece,[121] to name just a few.
People like Laura Fitton and Kosso set up a group Twitter feed,[122] and C. C. Chapman set up TwitterPeas.[123] Overall, it's a huge effort by lots of people to raise awareness of the campaign.
And this is to support a friend lots of us haven't even met in person. Yet the effort did lots to raise Susan's spirits, raising money, bringing even more attention via this new medium to something that was important and world-affecting, and it was definitely a project that spread virally. I doubt anyone would call it a failure, and instead, it's frequently referenced as a role model project for many other causes brought to Twitter over the years since.
We're over here sending people to college,[124] supporting other cancer fund-raising programs,[125] microlending,[126] and joining plenty of other nifty causes that are helping real human beings.
Social media is a lot more than blogging, podcasting, and social networks. It's effective at reaching the people beyond the keyboards and microphones and connecting them to important things.
[115] http://susanreynolds.blogs.com/
[116] http://susanreynolds.blogs.com/boobsonice/2007/12/whats-with-the.html
[117] https://frozenpeafund.pbworks.com
[118] http://scobleizer.com/2007/12/18/davos-question-how-to-improve-the-world-my-answer-peas/
[119] http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2007/12/susan-reynolds.html
[120] http://levite.wordpress.com/2007/12/20/i-hate-peas/
[121] http://everydotconnects.com/2007/12/20/community-vs-cancer/
[122] http://twitter.com/peaple
[123] http://twitterpeas.com/
[124] http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/10/twitter-chris-b.html
[125] http://socialhoneycomb.com/dance-benefit
[126] http://kiva.org/