Comments on: Buy A Virtual Gift And Fight Malaria

By: Doing Real Good with Virtual Goods « Virtual Goods Insider

Doing Real Good with Virtual Goods « Virtual Goods Insider — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:48:20 +0000

[...] all innuendo and frivolity. Sometimes virtual goods can make the real world a better place. Causes, a popular Facebook Application with over 9 million installs, lets users send over 20 different [...]

By: Profy.Com

Profy.Com — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:06:19 +0000

Facebook App Lets You Give Gifts To Goodwill…

Facebook is going through something of a rough patch at the moment. It’s getting heat from just about all sides for its “overreaching” Beacon advertising initiative, and as a result the site is now routinely hounded by a large number…

By: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:49:46 +0000

Good causes, you people should give more!

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:51:29 +0000

Causes isn’t a non-profit. They pocket a percentage of every donation as a “management” fee. The percentage is small, but multiplied by a very large quantity of transactions, it is significant.

There is something inherently evil about getting rich off of the charity of others. Maybe the end justifies the means, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an open seat in hell waiting for the owners.

By: I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:52:30 +0000

Personally, I find the idea of donating to charity on others’ behalf and then presenting it to them as a gift abhorrent, and I feel deeply sorry for anyone who has to thank someone for such a ‘gift’, particularly children. If you want to donate to charity, donate in your own name, and leave other people’s charity up to them.

Still, I can’t deny it’s an extremely popular way of avoiding having to think about what someone actually wants or needs, and this goes rather well with Facebook’s ‘virtual gifts’ thing.

By: Chris R.

Chris R. — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:12:05 +0000

When I first glanced at the title, I first thought it said “fight the mafia”, then I saw fight malaria, and I became disinterested.

By: chrisco

chrisco — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:55:20 +0000

What an amazing idea… It should get copied and cloned everywhere. I mean, if a-hole politicians and their rich lobbyist and corporate friends only care about themselves, this gives us poor people yet another way to do some good and start turning turning this world around and into a positive cycle instead of the negative one that Bush and others have set in motion. Keep it up and spread the word, guys! Now if you can come up with something that can get people to pull together and support EACH OTHER instead of just themselves.

By: Ben Rattray

Ben Rattray — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:13:35 +0000

I’m sorry to pile on with the love here, but this is a truly awesome product executed extremely well. And that says a lot coming from me, since our company (Change.org) is a “competitor” to Project Agape, the company that created the Causes app.

(I realize it’s sort of odd to consider yourself a competitor when you’re both trying to advance social good – hence the quotes.)

Anyway, kudos for a great job – I hope it takes off during the holidays.

By: 42mb.com

42mb.com — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:43:58 +0000

Good concept.

By: CAR

CAR — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:43:30 +0000

good cause, but bad concept, who the hell wants a 15$ virtual teddy bear, $200 computer, that is insulting, why not just give the damn money and feel good, to say you get a virtual gift is just insulting and retarted. i’d rather have a high five, or a call from family i’m donating to.

By: David Litsky

David Litsky — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:40:50 +0000

Causes is a great application, glad to see you have a soul Arrington

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:24:39 +0000

Nice Mike.

By: jason

jason — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:49:46 +0000

I almost shed a tear Michael, that was a very pussy write-up, but I commend you for the great cause. I just bought a malaria net.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:29:46 +0000

Maybe if it were DDT instead of a damn net, maybe then. This is just a waste of money. There’s a reason the rest of the world has less problems with malaria– DDT. Thanks for nothing Rachel Carsonand environmentalists, your scare tactics cost tens or hundreds of thousands of lives a year. Dark-skinned lives, granted, so maybe that makes it better to withhold the same technologies that helped our civilization.

http://www.eco-...icle.php3?id=68

By: Dheeraj Sultanian

Dheeraj Sultanian — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:41:38 +0000

Why not replace it with “Your friend just made a donation to The Human Fund in your name” – (Seinfeld Reference) – it will be just as effective in terms of helping people – 60-90% of all money raised by charities goes into administration and further fundraising – this will simply not help people. Period.

By: David Mackey

David Mackey — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:27:08 +0000

This is a great idea. Love it.

By: Allen Stern

Allen Stern — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:24:54 +0000

dangit – it missed my sarcasm html around the sally struthers.. it was just a joke folks

By: yongfook

yongfook — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:10:12 +0000

this is an excellent idea, but I can’t fathom the logistics behind it. If I buy a friend a mosquito net, does that money *actually* go towards a mosquito net or does it go into a big pool of donations that are then given to an appropriate charity to do with as they please (which may or may not involve buying mosquito nets). Either way benefits the people who need it though, I was just curious.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:08:19 +0000

I think it’s a really cool idea, people are buying their friends pretend gifts so why not spend that money and give someone who really needs something something. There is, of course, the problem Allen Mentioned above, how do you know that money is really being allocated to the correct place?

By: Allen Stern

Allen Stern — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:59:24 +0000

seems like a great idea to me – which charities do the monies go to? how can we be sure it’s used specifically for a teddy bear?

maybe sally struthers is available for an infomercial

By: jonathan

jonathan — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:49:39 +0000

this could work. will work better if they keep the prices low, like $1 = a bottle of water, or $1 = plant a tree.

By: 113.com

113.com — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:41:00 +0000

Good idea.