Social media is all about networking. And for a family who needs all the help they can get, being able to seek out helpful individuals online can sure be a big help. David Armano posted on Logic+Emotion about helping out a family who is a victim of domestic violence, and asked folks to spread the word through various means (“blog this, tweet this, re-tweet this”). Contributions flooded in from all over.

As of this moment, Daniela’s family is staying at our house and we are trying to help her find a one bedroom apartment for her family to live in. With Evelyn, her youngest having Down’s Syndrome and Daniela herself being a Romanian immigrant with very little family support she literally has no one to turn to. Except us (all of us).

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Here’s what we are asking. Right now, Belinda and I are opening our home, but it’s tight as we have no basement. We’ve committed to giving as much as we can spare, diverting funds from other places. I’m asking if you could think about doing the same. Or at the very least, helping get the word out about this. We are looking to raise 5k for Daniela and her family. Enough so that she doesn’t have to worry about a deposit or rent for a while.

To date, contributions via ChipIn amount to more than $8,000, which is about 170% of David’s target of $5,000. While this may not be much, considering today’s cost of living, this would be a good amount to start with.

This is just one example of harnessing new media for viral marketing, or at least virally spreading the word about a cause. However, it may not always turn out to be successful. My analysis of this is that for such an activity to succeed, it would require two things: a catalyst, and good connections. For one, it helps if one is already influential in his field or in online media, to get noticed. If you’re not too influential, you might not get the traction you need to get your cause noticed. Secondly, it helps if you know folks who can effectively get the word out and get people talking.

I got word about the fundraising through Twitter myself. While I don’t follow every link tweeted or re-tweeted, I do click those with intros or messages that interest me.

Originally posted on January 7, 2009 @ 11:12 am