With users over 901 million-strong social network has adopted more socially conscious policies of late, including an anti-bullying initiative and a referral system for friends expressing suicidal thoughts. You can now add life saving organ donor registry to the list.
Facebook on Tuesday unveiled an organ donor status option for Timeline, a move designed to help more than 114,000 people in the U.S. and millions more around the world who are waiting for a live-saving heart, kidney or liver transplant.
Mark Zuckerberg told ABC News’ Robin Roberts that the initiative aims to bring the power of social media to a problem that continues to plague organ transplantation — too many people who need organs and not enough who donate.
“What we hope will happen is that by just having this simple tool, we think that people can really help spread awareness of organ donation and that they want to participate in this to their friends,” Zuckerberg said. “That can be a big part of helping solve the crisis that’s out there.”
“Many of those people — an average of 18 people per day –- will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need,” Facebook notes in a blog entry explaining the move. “Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis.”
As the video above explains, designating yourself as an organ donor is easy. All you need to do is go to your Timeline, click on “Life Event” and then “Health & Wellness.” Then, you’ll see the option for “Organ Donor.” At that point, you can add when and where you registered and your personal story.
via ABC News / Mashable.com
Are you an organ donor? Would you consider becoming an organ donor now that Facebook makes it easy to register & share you personal story?
