The race between actor Ashton Kutcher and CNN to a million Twitter followers at first seemed to be little more than an exercise in online vanity. But then it transformed into a race to help out a cause, Malaria No More, in a meaningful way. But really, why does anyone need a race to do that?
With that in mind, tomorrow, Kutcher, with his nearly 1.4 million followers, and Digg’s Kevin Rose, with his over 500,000 followers, along with other notable users plan to use to Twitter as a platform to further the cause. The message they will send out is simple: “Every 30 seconds a child dies from Malaria. Nets save lives. Support World Malaria Day = http://bit.ly/30Io8”
Just from those two users, the tweet has the potential to be seen nearly 2 million times on Twitter. But the real power will come when people start retweeting the message. Savvy Twitter users will know that retweeting (copying a message to all of your followers that someone else sent) has become the key to sending a viral message on Twitter. And given the celebrity angle, mixed with a good cause, I think it’s a pretty good bet this may be one of the most retweeted messages ever for the service.
And we’ll play along, because it is a good cause. And if you feel like doing your part, send out the message above tomorrow as well, or retweet it. More importantly, if you’re able, donate to the cause to buy nets to help save children in Africa.
Dear TechCrunch,
I have had enough of this non-stop Twitter bullshit. The quality of your publication is a joke. Goodbye.
P.S. I never once looked at your sidebar. Suck it.
- anon
LOL
I am on your side on this one
Well that is a bit harsh, but Arrington is the only one who posts TECH news about EXECS and BUSINESS.
Absolutely agree. There’s a totally unbalanced coverage of Twitter, and this is a prime example of a story that isn’t even tech related.
It’s a celeb story. Give it a rest. Please.
I agree man twitter is overrated and TC is a stockhoolder so they are just driving traffic to the site with all this twitter B.S. im leaving techcrunch too now
The owners of Twitter have vision.. It appears that Ashton is trying to discover the full potential of their idea. Good move Ashton! Kudos. If I had time I would do the same thing. I have learned that sometimes what is advanced and forward thinking appears stupid and weird when it is first presented. There are countless examples of this in history. I personally learned this lesson when I first criticized the writer of Windows in 1996. I thought it was stupid. Who knew?
Will Twitter crash?
Diarrhea is also a leading cause of death.
http://www.ishatmypants.com
twitter.com/ishatmypants
Have you guys been following #TroopFlix on Twitter? nearly 1000 DVDs we got donated to the troops!
Just when I have seen enough retweets to last a lifetime. A retweet explosion. Ugh.
@CamGreen was here before @aplusk http://www.here...eforeaplusk.com #herebeforeaplusk and also supports http://www.MalariaNoMore.org
The People… The Planet… Choose ONE!
Anyone who supports both causes of saving lives and saving the environment is either a hypocrite or just plain dumb. Screw the people, lets save the planet by recognizing that the biggest factor of saving the planet is to cut down on the worldwide population.
we added http://malaria.tweetmeme.com – to track all those stories
“Just from those two users, the tweet will be seen nearly 2 million times on Twitter.”
Do you really think 2 million followers equals 2 million tweet-views? I’d guess about 5% of that.
okay yes, that would be the max for those two, but it’s going to be seen a lot more than that with all the retweets it will be seen a lot more than that. but i’ll update the wording.
This: “Kutcher, with his nearly 1.4 million followers, and Digg’s Kevin Rose, with his over 500,000 followers”
Does not equal: “the tweet has the potential to be seen nearly 2 million times on Twitter”
You suggest that 1.4m+.5m+others ~= 2m.
This assumes that all Kutcher followers are not Rose followers or any of the other ‘notables’.
A simple API query would allow you to figure out how many unique users you are talking about, which I can’t believe is anywhere near 2 million. (common sense suggests there is huge overlap between all celebrity followers)
math aside, what does it matter how many people see it or RT it? what percent of people would acutally DO anything? seeing, tweeting and re-tweeting does not = raising money. doing something raises money. this just bogs down twitter.
I agree with you. The sentence was Twitter-sided, rather celebrity-sided.
cool nick
You are either pro-environment or you’re pro-people.
We have no wars, no progress, and overpopulation.
Start picking your causes.
am i the only ones who thinks celebrities are using twitter provocatively to promote their egos? twitter is too small to be used to reach massive audiences. stephen colbert did a better job in promoting the malaria nets cause.
oprah was the turning point; the ‘peak of inflated expectations’ in the hype cycle
No you are not the only one. As an African, I already gave my two cents on this a week ago. http://bit.ly/A43U2
Twitter is for gay. Tweeting is gay. Talking about ‘tweeting’ on Twitter is gay. Spending time to write a story about Ashton Kutchers’ tweets is ultra-facemeltingly gay. Just out of curiousity, did you lose all of your dignity when writing this or are you ok with it? Yikes.
Say it loud and proud… (Since you noted that talking about it is gay and since you were commenting about it, you must be…)
All of us at TC-land will still love you just as you are.
Enough with the Ashton/Malaria/Twitter thing. How is this seriously raising money? Gimme a break. If it was about Malaria, then why isn’t Ashton trying to get everyone to follow Malaria on Twitter instead of him?
American Idol donating $1 for every vote raised serious cash. This just boggs down Twitter – that used to be a nice community before the celebs crashed it.
I also agree with Dom above that this is totally un-tech related. Leave it alone.
FWIW I’ve got many friends and associates that live in various African countries that have had Malaria, so guess that can be added as a disclaimer.
For the it’s all talk and babble and no action or real world results crowd…
Here’s an event that grew out of Twitter and raised over 250K to drill wells in developing countries.
http://www.char....org/twestival/
Here’s a Twitter event that raised over 10K in 48 hours to build a school in Tanzania.
http://tweetsgiving.org/
There are a load of people from around the world doing great work online really working in collaboration to make the world a better place.
Came across @twittacause – who are raising $1mm for charity.
Each time you twit we kill a kitten
I still want to know why sean combs (or whoever he is this week) was on CNN with Ashton and Larry King?????
Seriously, this is a real question…
i think this is a great way for a very good cause
haha
This is actually not a good cause. It’s a celebrity pissing contest which they’re trying to shroud in good intentions. Mosquito nets don’t get used by Africans. What is far more successful than glib one-off campaigns is sustained development, working with Africans, on the ground and listening to them. But yeah, that’s like soooo boring when you can just hop on the Kutcher bandwagon and think you’re actually doing some good. You’re not. Don’t support this campaign. Don’t think that this little dribble is actually doing anyone in Africa any good.
Got to be doing more than you.
This only creates more dependency on foreign systems. It does nothing for development. I work in the development space for Africa and have seen this firsthand on the continent. This is why I’m frustrated by these half-assed celebrity “fixes”. They’re doing more harm than good.
There is an effective solution to malaria. Unfortunately, no one’s allowed to employ it.
That solution is DDT. It doesn’t have to be slathered onto fields the way it was in the 1960’s; using it judiciously on interior walls will effectively eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes while having approximately zero effect on the external environment. But every time someone brings this up, the envirowackos start screeching and waving around Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and it shuts people up.
Rachel Carson has the blood of thousands of Africans, dead of malaria, on her hands.
Western anti-DDT campaigns saw fit to campaign against DDT use in Africa like everything else. Green Peace and other tree huggers don’t want us to build dams because it destroys eco-systems and spend millions fighting against us to do so.
So we are stuck with band-aid solutions from Malaria No More, et al that perpetuate our dependency on western solutions and nothing to build up our capacity to deal with the situation, on our own terms. Malaria is a celebrity hot topic. It’s not new, We’ve had malaria since before colonnial rule.
Yes malaria kills, so does starvation, AIDS, baby shaking, war and the runs… stop treating us like we are new to tragedy and the responsibility of the West. Stuffing solutions down our throats doesn’t help us, it stagnates our growth and development….
>>Yes malaria kills, so does starvation, AIDS, baby shaking, war and the runs… stop treating us like we are new to tragedy and the responsibility of the West. Stuffing solutions down our throats doesn’t help us, it stagnates our growth and development….<<
Bingo.
For those that care enough to explore more, read the following three books: The Lords of Poverty, Despite Good Inentions and Dead Aid.
Sorry, forgot to say, thanks for bringing that up! Fantastic point!
Very importante cause.
Att,
Marcelo
Internet=twitter+Facebook. Amen.
Let’s keep the fight alive, so we can cure this disease and diseases; let us fight the good fight to end the deadly diseases of the world!
Twitter is A BIG DEAL. Thanks for staying on the ball TechCrunch.
Raising awareness about the issue is good. But obviously not everyone agrees nets are a good solution. Below is a link to an interesting blog post by TMS Ruge, a social entrepreneur in Africa, who you may have seen on a panel at SXSW.
He says, “The solution to malaria, much like varied solutions to ending our addiction to aid, can be found within Africa. My problem with the strategy of dealing with malaria employed by Malaria No More, Nothing but Nets, et al is that it erodes the ability of local capacity to deal with this problem. It is also not infinitely sustainable, and dare I say it, smacks of paternalistic ethos. It’s a band-aid on a gashing wound.”
http://projectd...oods-in-africa/
Thanks for posting this. I appreciate it.
Top 10 Twitter current trending topics:
• NFL Draft
• Spurs
• World Malaria Day
• Mexico
• Malaria
• #NFLDraft
• #pclo09
• Susan Boyle
• #swineflu
• Tottenham
Clearly if nothing else, the Celeb/Twitter/Cause event has brought awareness to many people to the issue. Meaningful help or truly impactful change, no. Awareness, discussion and ideas, yes.
@dambisamoyo World Malaria Day is a short-term solution at best: aid undermines African entrepreneurs and growth http://bit.ly/17litL
@Not Helping. I couldn’t agree with you more. Please permit me to requote:
“This is actually not a good cause. It’s a celebrity pissing contest which they’re trying to shroud in good intentions. Mosquito nets don’t get used by Africans. What is far more successful than glib one-off campaigns is sustained development, working with Africans, on the ground and listening to them. But yeah, that’s like soooo boring when you can just hop on the Kutcher bandwagon and think you’re actually doing some good. You’re not. Don’t support this campaign. Don’t think that this little dribble is actually doing anyone in Africa any good.”
I am Nigerian and African and I approve this message! I will use this as a reference point .
As a Ugandan, I say Amen! http://bit.ly/MtvT8
I’m happy to see all this rally for this critical cause.
It could be seen as a cause marketing opportunity for this elite of the Internet, but we will make them responsable for what they say and check if their action will follow what they say.
I’d like to see Kevin Rose going to Africa for Malaria like Bill Gates.
Hello Ashton glad to see you are involved with yet another kneedy cause.
Will you help the cystic fibrosis Trust find a cure please,please please.
(Desperate mother)