Every year, many people sacrifice their time and a part of their lives in order to help bring greater awareness to breast cancer. This greatly helps generate funding for treatments as well as research in order to find a cure for a very deadly problem for women. Due to the popularity of digital mediums in today’s world, more people are able to participate in creating greater awareness through various online means.
Second Life
In 2014, the players of Second Life contributed to the breast cancer walk by using their avatars to help generate awareness. This is a worldwide event as players from across the globe contribute their time within the digital environment in much the same way that real life individuals walk for the cure. Due to it’s popularity, it will return for
breast cancer walk 2015.
Game Streaming
The popularity of streaming video games has opened another method in which ardent players help generate donations from viewers. Platforms such as Twitch allow live feeds of game play while viewers can donate to virtually any cause the player is supporting. Links within the profile of the streaming gamer send donors to sponsored pages such as those for breast cancer awareness where the viewer can offer support.
YouTube Videos
YouTube is a digital medium that has been used for a wide range of purposes. During the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014, hundreds of thousands of dollars where donated with the video content site being in the center of a lot of the content sharing. It’s an easy and free medium that can reach millions of viewers while increasing awareness.
Social Media
One of the most influential of online media is that of social sites. Facebook, Google+, Twitter and more than 200 others are used regularly to connect to millions of people for virtually every purpose imaginable. As many of the more popular sites are interconnected, it’s quite easy to build an intricate web of information across many of them increasing the impact you could have with your own breast cancer awareness campaign.
While it’s still a relatively new concept, those that spend a great deal of time on the Internet are making strides to help benefit many different causes. Breast cancer is but one facet of what gamers and streaming video makers help by increasing awareness. The reach of properly motivated online professionals span farther than what can be accomplished locally. What kind of digital innovations will Internet users develop in the future to benefit humanity in similar ways?