Social Media, Social Causes

Social causes will get an enhanced profile in social media under an initiative launched today by interactive agency Deep Focus and the Advertising Council.

The goal: to help social causes develop social media strategies.

The Advertising Council develops public service advertisements (PSAs) that have typically appeared in magazines, television, and other offline media.

Participants in the project called the Exponential Action Network will be able to select from an online list of causes identified by the Ad Council. When a person selects a cause, a widget will be generated that can be displayed on a social networking profile, blog, wiki, and a personal home page. Each widget will track and display the size of the network in real-time.

Campaigns participating in the initiative include: Autism Awareness (Autism Speaks); Financial Literacy (U.S. Department of Treasury); Mentoring (Big Brothers Big Sisters of America); and Online Sexual Exploitation (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and U.S. Department of Justice).

Exponential Action Network was developed pro bono by Deep Focus, which is headed up by Ian Schafer. Clearspring’s technology is being used to distribute the widgets, while MySpace, Facebook, and other social media sites will donate ad impressions.