Bloggers 4 Hire CEO Jim Turner 24-Hour Telethon a Tremendous Success, Thanks to the Power of Social Media

The power of social media was tested and found alive and well over the holiday weekend, as One by One Media and Bloggers 4 Hire CEO Jim Turner hosted a 24-hour telethon to help the people of Haiti.

Jim, AKA Genuine, is the man behind the telethon. He was aided and abetted by Chris Noble of WhatGives.com, and Jim used his 24 hours wisely and well, interviewing many concerned people and emphasizing over and over to all of us that the inspiration for his telethon was an image of  a little Haitian girl, alone, frightened, hungry, and thirsty, amidst the rubble; the image had pierced him to the heart and would probably haunt him forever.  This vision convinced Jim that he needed to DO SOMETHING, and he DID do something, something wonderful!

Jim’s telethon raised a lot of dollars for Haiti.  The Twitter hashtag @HART (Haitian Assistance Relief Telethon) quickly took over the MLK holiday Twitter posts, sending more and more people to view and/or listen to the telethon and phone in with their contributions and concern.

One by One Media and Bloggers 4 Hire’s CEO was already well-known for his generous heart and his love of children and family, but his telethon not only proved it over again; it also convinced hundreds of others to open their hearts and wallets, as well.

The power of social media is mighty; it’s easy to get a mind-fix that these catastrophes usually happen far away to people we don’t know, but the fact is, we’re all in this together. Today, it’s someone else who needs help; tomorrow, it could be us, right here. WhatGives.com posted a list of many ways to contribute, including how to do so with a cell phone!  On Twitter, people read the thoughts and comments of other kind-hearted people – all linked with the #HART hashtag so they were easy to find – and decided to do likewise.  #HART made it easy to find a means to give, and Jim’s constant and intense outpourings, during the telethon,  of love and good will made it almost impossible to say “no.”

Let the good that we do come back to us. And even if it doesn’t, let’s do it anyway.

On Twitter, the hashtag #HART is still going strong.  Social media can unite people and “spread the word” faster than lightning, and Jim Turner and his heart-felt telethon was a way to unite us all even faster, aiming at a common goal: to help others.

You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. — John Wooden

You’re right, John Wooden.  Thank you, Jim Turner.  Truly, you are a Genuine kind of guy.