New Facebook feature already leading to massive organ donor spike
This week, Facebook launched a new feature that would allow users to publicise on their profile Timelines that they were organ donors, offering a link-through option for newcomers to sign up to various organ donation schemes tied to their individual territories.
Hand on heart, we thought it was a nice idea in terms of raising public awareness about the need for more donated organs, but we didn’t expect it to do much more.
Well, we’re happy to have been proven wrong, as Facebook’s latest update has inspired a substantial spike in registered organ donors.
According to donor registries in two American states, they recorded roughly 10,000 new organ donors the same day that the Facebook scheme launched. That’s as many donors as usually register in an entire month. Overall, more than 100,000 people have now used Facebook to publicise the fact that they are organ donors.
“I think it’s possible that we will see an impact over the next couple of years, where we would imagine eliminating the transplant waiting list,” Dr. Andrew Cameron, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who helped bring the idea to Facebook, told ABC News.
You’ve proved us wrong, netizens. Well done for being such warm-hearted people!
Via: ABC News
