If you thought Facebook was just an easy way to waste time, you’re not wrong, but now it’s working hard to be more than that. On Thursday, Facebook announced its initiative to help fight against Ebola. Currently, Facebook is using a three-pronged approach.
Following Mark Zuckerberg's $25 million donation to fight against Ebola, the social network wants to give you the opportunity to donate easily. Using the Donate feature, which will be available later in the day, Facebook users will be prompted with a message at the top of a new feed that says “Kelsey, You Can Help Stop Ebola.” Currently three organizations are available to receive donations. Users can either donate to International Medical Corps, which trains healthcare workers and patients in Sierra Leone and Liberia; American Red Cross, which is providing safe burials, clinical treatments and provides education about the virus; and Save the Children, an organization that builds treatment centers and protects orphaned children in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. After you’ve selected your organization and completed the donation, users can then publish the action, which Facebook hopes will spur others to donate as well. Facebook guarantees that all money donated will be given directly to the organization. This feature will be live on the site for about a week.
Their next effort is teaming with UNICEF to provide education to those who are in the affected areas. The press release notes that the releases will appear in the news feeds of those in the specific areas that have been affected and will be in the appropriate language to easily spread accurate and up-to-date information about Ebola in the area. The messages will carry information about treatment, prevention and detection. Though Facebook isn’t as widely used in Africa as elsewhere in the world, ReCode notes that more than 100 million people in the country do use it, so there’s plenty of people who could benefit from the information.
In the vein of providing an easier way to communicate, Facebook is also partnering with NetHop to donate 100 mobile satellite communication terminals to be placed in the remote areas of affected countries. These terminals will be able to help medical workers communicate during times of emergency as they haven’t been able to before.
So far, 13,000 people have contracted the virus and over 4,800 have died. Facebook’s fear is that without help, Ebola could become a long-term global crisis.
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Post by Mark Zuckerberg .
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