Using blogs and social media for change

October 21, 2009

We've been posting a lot lately about ways to do good things for others through your blog, and before we get to our wrap-up on Blog Action Day, here's three other people in our community who are generating good through their blog.

One TypePad blogger is raising money via her blog and selling handmade items in her Etsy store for Ichthyosis, a rare skin disease.

Moonpie was born with a rare skin disorder called "Non-Bullous Congenital Ichthyosiform Erythroderma" (say that ten times fast!). It is a form of Ichthyosis, a family of skin conditions that are characterized by dry, flaking, itchy skin.
Because Ichthyosis is rare, we are dependent on grassroots fund raising to seek new treatments (and, hopefully, one day an effective gene therapy). Last year my blog readers reached out and donated $725! Internationally, the grassroots fund raisers raised over $30,000 last year.

Another cool use of blogs and social media for change is our friend Drew Olanoff, who uses the Twitter hashtag #blamedrewscancer to raise awareness. His campaign got the attention of Lance Armstrong and LiveStrong, and when Drew offered to auction his Twitter name for charity:

"My last treatment is Nov. 2nd. A week before my birthday, Nov. 9th. So I decided to put my Twitter name (@Drew) up for auction hoping to raise some money to give to LIVESTRONG for my birthday. This is the foundation that has been by my side since my diagnosis.
So we went forward and Drew Carey (@DrewFromTV) got wind of the auction. The starting bid was $10,000. A huge amount in my mind. He took it further with a starting bid of $25,000. And then minutes later threw in a curveball. If he got 100,000 followers by auction end (Nov 9th), his bid would turn into $100,000.
Wow.
And then the bombshell yesterday. If he gets 1,000,000 (one million) followers by the end of THIS YEAR, December 31st, he will donate $1,000,000 (one million dollars) to LIVESTRONG. (watch the video with Shira Lazar here!)"

Another longtime TypePad blogger, The Assertive Cancer Patient ("living with cancer, and an attitude") wants to keep her blog ad-free, but still make her living by writing about what it's like to live with cancer and treatment. She also makes some great handmade jewelry.

Finally, a roundup of the people who participated in Blog Action Day - a HUGE thank you to everyone who blogged for climate change. Some of these are TypePad bloggers, some aren't, but everyone gets a huge thank you from us and from the climate. Read the full round up, including a link to the White House's post over here.

Thanks to everyone who participated!