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"\u00A0\nOn September 18th 2008, Mashable's Twitter followers donated $3536 to Charity:Water, an initiative to build wells in Ethiopia. On the same day, our Twitter friend Paul Young raised a further $637 through his Twitter and Facebook accounts. And Twitter user Sarah Townsend hauled in $400 - that's more than $4500, almost exclusively from Twitter, in a single day. With $4000 buying an entire well to supply water to 200 people for 20 years, we can truly call this the \"well that Twitter built\".\nTwitting for Charity: The Backstory\nIt started with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone: his September Twitter newsletter included a mention of Scott Harrison, a 33 year-old Twitter user and founder of Charity:Water, which builds wells in Ethiopia. Scott's September birthday inspired him to launch the \"September\" campaign, asking those with September birthdays to accept online donations in leui of gifts this year. Many did: the site claims to have raised $393,000 since the end of August.\nSeptember 18th: The Twitter Well\nAt least three Twitter users celebrated their birthdays on September 18th: myself, Paul Young and Sarah Townsend. Thanks to the large following that my company, Mashable, has on both Twitter and Facebook, I was able to raise a healthy $3536 in donations. As I was turning 23, the recommended amount was $23, but visitors could give any amount they liked. As mentioned above, Paul and Sarah also raised huge amounts, taking us beyond the $4000 needed to fund a well that day.\nTwitter Users More Generous than Facebook?\nNow perhaps this Twitter theorem isn't utterly scientific: after all, personal friends could have chipped in without seeing the Twitter posting, and both Paul and I promoted on Facebook too. And yet, Paul went to the trouble of carefully logging his referrers, as explained in a lengthy and fascinating blog post. Particularly interesting: Twitter users donated far more readily than Facebook members - so much that Facebook referrers are almost insignificant:\n\nDollars per Click Through\nTwitter: $4.50\nFacebook: $0.29\n\nSo while Paul attributes $325 of his haul to a close personal friend, it's reasonable to say that between Mashable, Paul and Sarah, one complete Ethiopian well was funded by Twitter users on September 18th. And it gets better: since sponsors match donations to the campaign dollar for dollar, two entire wells can be built from our collective efforts.\nSeptember Birthday? You Are Next!\nSeptember 18th wasn't unique: scores of Twitter users report that they've been raising money for this great cause during September. So if you have a September birthday, be sure to turn your special day into an extraordinary one with Charity:Water and Twitter. And if you aren't celebrating a September birthday, you're still welcome to donate through Mashable's page at http://tinyurl.com/charityw\nPS. We receive a note of your name and the amount given for every donation. Time permitting, I will continue to thank everyone who donates on our Twitter feed - the amount is irrelevant and your generosity is deeply appreciated."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2008/09/19/the-well-that-twitter-built/>