Color my Facebook

By on January 7th, 2010 In Social Media

Breast_Cancer_Awareness_RibbonIf you’ve logged on to Facebook at any point today, you’ve probably noticed the color posts on your female friends’ updates.  I was confused, too.  But then the email showed up; post your bra color as a way to raise awareness about breast cancer.  Brilliant, but I’m still trying to figure out who started it.  A non-profit, a cancer survivor?  I suppose it doesn’t really matter since it seems to be working.  So hats off to a great example of the power of social media.  And if anyone finds out who started this, please let me know.

Comments

R Pearson Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 9:34 am

I heard about this on KTAR this morning only they didn’t mention the connection to breast cancer awareness, but made it sounds like something weird women were doing for attention. Too bad they missed the opportunity to promote something so important.

Pat Elliott Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 1:11 pm

I don’t know who started this, but I do know that I’m now seeing some of the women who did this have become “fans” of a for-profit company selling pink “awareness” items. I would much rather see social media efforts focus on preventing cancer and/or assisting those who are living with cancer.

Heidi Frei Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

To call it successful would depend on your measurement. If I wanted to know what color of bra my friends wear, I guess it was successful. It also proved that people will do whatever their friends tell them to do on Facebook. I also question the term cancer awareness. What does awareness really mean? Does that mean more women getting mammograms or making sure they stay away from behaviors that have been linked to cancer? I agree with Pat, that I would rather see efforts to raise money to find a cure or to support those suffering with this horrible disease. As far as awareness goes, I think we have all known someone who has died from cancer or have had the disease. If we don’t, then we must have less than 10 friends on our Facebook account.

Rachel Brockway Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 1:48 pm

Good afternoon,

There is an article on Mashable.com (http://tiny.cc/SneUB)and they can’t confirm either. But they have two blogs saying it was from a lady in Detroit raising awareness for Cancer.

Awareness for cancer is always a good thing!

Rachel Brockway
Co-Chair Tea for Teal (Sat. Feb. 20, 2010)
Anne Rita Monahan Foundation for Ovarian Cancer

Diane D'Angelo Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 5:51 pm

The only thing this accomplished was getting women to share a color. Without a slogan/action item, it’s meaningless.

Jim Veihdeffer Says:
January 9th, 2010 at 12:47 pm

While “awareness” is always a good thing, I wonder if the time hasn’t come that resources expended on awareness shouldn’t be applied to actual research, development and getting good, evidence-based information out there (as Pat indicated also).

I see an awful lot of profiteering going on with bogus, harmful and distracting “cures” and “treatments” particularly for cancer and autism, both of which have turned into gold mines for snake oil purveyors.

“Raising awareness” is a bit too easy to pass off, any more, as a worthy effort on its own. It seems to me that it’s time for the awareness to be focused and the hucksters (like Trudeau and his ilk) driven out of business, since tarring and feathering are out of fashion.

Add your Comment


Want Your Picture Icon? Go to gravatar.com and set a picture up to your email address for free. It also works on thousands of other websites, too!