Commentary

What Haiti Taught Us About Social Media

Brian Boland, manager of direct response solutions at Facebook, tells OMMA Social attendees in San Francisco Tuesday what they don't know about Facebook ads. He starts by providing the example of the earthquake in Haiti and how people relied on status updates to tell friends and loved ones their whereabouts, donate money to help survivors, and find makeshift hospitals that have the ability to treat people. In the last week, World Vision has been running ads in Facebook to help people connect with others. About 100,000 people have become fans since the earthquake.
2 comments about "What Haiti Taught Us About Social Media".
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  1. Fred Jones, January 26, 2010 at 7:08 p.m.

    So they are fans, big deal. Show me a conversion that makes a business money and I'll start listening.

    Until then, Social media remains largely anecdotal.

  2. Rob Noyes from US Agency for International Development, January 27, 2010 at 11:41 a.m.

    Fred,

    Do you feel there is there any value in the article content, "...how people relied on status updates to tell friends and loved ones their whereabouts, donate money to help survivors, and find makeshift hospitals...," or do you feel the value of this social media would be quantifiable only if World Vision got a cut of the donations?

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About the Author

Laurie Sullivan is a writer and editor for MediaPost. You can reach Laurie at lauriesullivan@gmail.com.

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