A selection of famous singers have decided to stop using Facebook and Twitter as a way of earning money for Charity.
Justin Timberlake, Usher and Lady Gaga are among a group of celebrities who have decided not to join in any social networking sites until $1 million dollars is raised for charity. The charity is ‘Keep a Child Alive’ which helps AIDS/HIV affected families in India and Africa and is being supported on Wednesday by Worlds Aids Day. The charity is that of Alicia Keys.
Many of the celebrities have put final messages on their Facebook and twitter pages and vow to only log in again when the $1 million dollars have been raised. Some have even filmed messages where they lie in coffins declaring their digital deaths.
Alicia Keys explained that it would really raise awareness by using these up to date mediums. She is hoping that the parallel between death of the social networking communication from these celebrities and the death caused by Aids, will help to raise awareness of the cause in a new way. The statement is also to show that the death of one person could have a massive effect but many people are dying and no one is noticing. The stars have millions of followers on these social networking sites and so they are likely to have a big effect on a lot of people.
She is also hoping that many more people get involved, even those that are not celebrities so they can raise awareness of the campaign. There is a feeling that lady gaga, should be able to raise the money all by her own campaign as she has so many followers with 24 million fans on Facebook and 7 million on twitter. With so many celebrities agreeing to take part it should certainly touch a great deal of people.