Facebook Haiti

The first news I received about the massive 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti did not come from Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, or even the Huffington Post. I first learned about the earthquake in Haiti when a friend posted her condolences in her Facebook status. I clicked onto her profile and discovered she had posted a link to an article about the earthquake on her page.

Within an hour of the 7.0 earthquake - at least a quarter of my 2,300 facebook friends were posting instructions in their status for texting donations to Hatian born hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation. Yele Haiti's Facebook page has over 94,000 fans, countless photos from inside Haiti, and, of course, the reminder to donate $5 by texting YELE to 501501. Yele Haiti has already raised over $2 million for the relief efforts.

Zynga, the maker of such popular Facebook social-networking games as FarmVille and Mafia Wars,  raised more than $1.5m for the UN World Food Programme as part of the earthquake relief effort by targeting users in 47 different countries.

Described as a place to find information and help people locate missing loved ones, the EARTHQUAKE HAITI Facebook group has almost 300,000 members. Group members can share any link they like, from a petition supporting forgiving Haiti's $890 million debt to volunteer opportunities and  state-side fundraising events.

Oscar winner George Clooney and Wyclef Jean’s wildly successful, record breaking Hope for Haiti telethon raised $58 million for the relief efforts. However, for those of us without the media appeal of the Wyclefs and Clooneys of the world, Facebook has become a powerful marketing tool. For instance, on January 7, 2010, thousands of women listed their bra color as their Facebook status updates in response to a cyber chain letter daring them to "spread the wings of cancer awareness". Notably, the infectious nature of Facebook activity was boldly displayed during the 2008 election and skillfully leveraged by the Obama campaign to mobilize Facebook users to the polls. 

Unlike the myriad of news outlets, word of mouth has no competition. For many of -- especially young people -- our friends (even cyber friends living across the country) are more trusted sources of information than any of the big news networks or anchors. Facebook has also risen as a citizen's watchdog, warning about fraudulent activity by those looking to profit from the global outpouring of assistance. While the networks were reminding viewers to donate $10 to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund by texting HAITI to 90999, tons of facebook users were posting cautionary tales criticizing the Red Cross’ use of Katrina donations. Regardless of the validity of such claims, these users were able to get their message out without competing with whatever the nightly news was telling people to do.

Currently Facebook has over 21,000 Haiti related Facebook groups and pages - with millions of combined members and fans. Any information that makes it into the Facebook pipeline has the potential to reach as many - if not more - eyeballs as any network news report. Most people do not have access to Katie Couric or Anderson Cooper to check up on their reporting, but we do have access to our Facebook friends and the ability to post comments in response to any claims our Facebook friends make. Simply by clicking the Home button, one can get a quick rundown of their Facebook friends' most recent activity.  The greater the percentage of Facebook friends one has posting the same message, the more validity said message acquires. 

How useful all this Facebook activity will manage to be for the people of Haiti remains to be seen. Having 800 new Facebook Haiti groups and events pop up every day may ultimately dilute focus and repeat efforts. We may never know if a more focused response would have been wiser. However, given the gravity of the situation, discounting any attempts to help may itself be the unwise move. As celebrities and politicians find more and more scandalous ways to make headlines and Haiti falls out of prominence within the news media, the Facebook groups will still be there and dogged activists will still be posting and commenting on other people's posts in an effort to keep the torch burning for Haiti.