Students use 'social media for a good cause'
A group of MBA students at 91社区 is hoping to turn tweets into donations when they travel to India later this week.
The 29 students enrolled in the Master of Business Administration program at the Desautels Faculty of Management will be touring the country starting Thursday and spreading word of their trip through social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, with the goal of raising $10,000 to send impoverished girls to school.
"We had this trip planned and it was a great idea, but we all felt it was a little hoity toity; we really wanted to fully understand what India was like and we wanted to be able to give back as well," said Melanie Walsh, 27, one of the organizers of the campaign. "We have a website that we'll be using to post daily updates about our trips. We'll be taking videos, photos, and use blogs and twitter to keep everyone updated so they can read about the trip."
Walsh said the group has also enlisted the support of a Grade 11 class at Centennial Regional High School in Greenfield Park.
"We're going to teach them how to use social media for a good cause," Walsh said. "They are going to design their own social media marketing strategy to push our content, and see if they can make it go viral on their end."
The money raised through the website will be given to the organization Nanhi Kali, which funds education for Indian girls.
The $10,000 will allow 100 girls to attend school for a year.
Although the students have shelled out roughly $3,000 each to pay for the trip, many are also making donations of their own, Walsh said.
The goal of the campaign is to see how far word can spread through social media.
"It's an opportunity to use social media and learn about it, but also to do something very useful with it," said Karl Moore, the associate professor who has organized the trip.
To make a donation, visit
Read full article: , February 15, 2011