Most people will have noticed by now, some no doubt with a touch of annoyance, that #kickcancer is being added to a lot of tweets.... so what's it all about?
The Kick Cancer campaign was started on Twitter by @bubblybex. The @kickcancer profile, the Kick Cancer facebook fan page and the #kickcancer tag are just the start of a much bigger fundraising idea for the future, so be sure to follow @kickcancer for updates.
To quote a well known statistic, 1 in 3 of us will be affected by cancer at some time in our life.... this means there are hundreds of thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook and other social networking sites who either have been affected or are currently fighting this awful disease.
As a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK, my sole reason for joining twitter in the first place, was to raise awareness of Cancer and the fundraising going on to support vital research. Since joining I have come across many people doing amazing things to raise money for cancer charities, as well as many inspirational people fighting the disease themselves. It never ceases to amaze me just how many people have been affected in some way, be it having cancer themselves or having a loved one currently fighting, or as in my case having lost someone to cancer...
The aim of the #kickcancer hashtag (and the Kick Cancer facebook page) is to build an online community where it's ok to talk about cancer and share your stories, to talk about fundraising and hope for the future.
The only way to get the message out there that this #kickcancer tag exists is to use it - a lot! People will see it and hopefully want to find out more and connect with others with similar experiences. Although there are a few using the tag often (perhaps too often!) at the moment, there will come a day when it's common twitter knowledge that it's out there, and the hope is that thousands of people will use it to tag fundraising tweets, when tweeting about their cancer treatment, or when remembering someone they've lost....
so please help to spread the word - add a #kickcancer to a tweet for someone you care about!
Thursday 21 January 2010
Monday 18 January 2010
I am a "TwitFace" - are you??
Did you know they are combining Twitter, Youtube and Facebook? It's going to be called "You Twitface" - ha de har har, my husband thought that was hilarious!!
I think he's just jealous of the amount of time I spend, talking to people over the net - mostly people I don't know!
I've been on Facebook for quite some time, and love it for keeping me in touch with friends and family, far and near. I spent my teen years living in South Africa, and FB has been a great way to connect with people there who I rarely see, and we also have lots of friends in Australia. It's the only way I have of keeping up with their news and family photos - it's great to be able to see my friend's kids, and my nieces, grow up before my eyes!
And now onto my latest vice, Twitter! I joined twitter when our fundraising group had an autographed XFactor t-shirt up for auction on Ebay. It was signed by Alexandra, all of JLS and lots of the other 2008 finalists, and for a couple of weeks I annoyed the hell out of our then 23 followers with constant RT requests and tweets promoting the auction! Despite my dreaming that this item might be worth hundreds of ££ it sold for a pitiful £62 which was rather disappointing :-( Anyway, I digress, the point is I was hooked.... the skips of heartbeats when I saw my follower count go up, then the agonising "but why????" when I saw the count drop.... and by this time, people had actually started speaking to me and I realised it's possible to have a great conversation (in 140 characters of course) with someone you've never met!
I started off searching for anyone tweeting about Cancer Research UK - for obvious reasons, but I am actually a fan of anyone working hard for any good cause, and so support many other charities and fundraisers as well. I have made some amazing friends on Twitter - too many to mention for fear of leaving someone out - and I dearly hope I'll get to meet them all someday. The only person I will mention by name is Rebecca Joyce, known to many as @bubblybex - this young lady, currently fighting hard to kick cancer herself, has brought together literally thousands of people via Twitter and Facebook. I read some of the messages of loss and of hope on the facebook pages she has created, and am so proud to 'know' her.... and when she has kicked cancer (which this feisty lass will do, without a doubt), I will make sure I get to meet her in person.
So, dear husband, there is a reason I spend so much time on twitter (and to a lesser degree now, FB) - not only am I am helping to Kick Cancer, but help spread awareness of lots of other great causes, from AIDS, animal welfare and MND to MS and brain-injured children. SO THERE!!!!!
I think he's just jealous of the amount of time I spend, talking to people over the net - mostly people I don't know!
I've been on Facebook for quite some time, and love it for keeping me in touch with friends and family, far and near. I spent my teen years living in South Africa, and FB has been a great way to connect with people there who I rarely see, and we also have lots of friends in Australia. It's the only way I have of keeping up with their news and family photos - it's great to be able to see my friend's kids, and my nieces, grow up before my eyes!
And now onto my latest vice, Twitter! I joined twitter when our fundraising group had an autographed XFactor t-shirt up for auction on Ebay. It was signed by Alexandra, all of JLS and lots of the other 2008 finalists, and for a couple of weeks I annoyed the hell out of our then 23 followers with constant RT requests and tweets promoting the auction! Despite my dreaming that this item might be worth hundreds of ££ it sold for a pitiful £62 which was rather disappointing :-( Anyway, I digress, the point is I was hooked.... the skips of heartbeats when I saw my follower count go up, then the agonising "but why????" when I saw the count drop.... and by this time, people had actually started speaking to me and I realised it's possible to have a great conversation (in 140 characters of course) with someone you've never met!
I started off searching for anyone tweeting about Cancer Research UK - for obvious reasons, but I am actually a fan of anyone working hard for any good cause, and so support many other charities and fundraisers as well. I have made some amazing friends on Twitter - too many to mention for fear of leaving someone out - and I dearly hope I'll get to meet them all someday. The only person I will mention by name is Rebecca Joyce, known to many as @bubblybex - this young lady, currently fighting hard to kick cancer herself, has brought together literally thousands of people via Twitter and Facebook. I read some of the messages of loss and of hope on the facebook pages she has created, and am so proud to 'know' her.... and when she has kicked cancer (which this feisty lass will do, without a doubt), I will make sure I get to meet her in person.
So, dear husband, there is a reason I spend so much time on twitter (and to a lesser degree now, FB) - not only am I am helping to Kick Cancer, but help spread awareness of lots of other great causes, from AIDS, animal welfare and MND to MS and brain-injured children. SO THERE!!!!!
Thursday 14 January 2010
What will make you Shine in 2010?
So, I originally set up this blog with the intention of sharing the stories of our fundraising committee... but never got around to doing anything about it! Having been recently asked to write a blog post I thought I'd test it out here first :-)
What will make you Shine in 2010? A great question….
For those who have already heard of the new Cancer Research UK walking marathon, that question might make some divert your eyes to the floor, skip past the tweet or ignore the facebook post depending on how you were asked the question! Others, with slightly broader minds, might realise that, yes, the question relates to a fundraising idea, but your answer can be anything that might make you Shine…. A new job, an exciting holiday, jumping out of a plane, getting married…. You get the idea.
What will make me Shine in 2010 is solely related to fundraising - because it’s what I do!
I first did the Race for Life, for Cancer Research UK, in 2006 with my best friend Sarah. We just did it for a bit of fun really, and to raise money of course! We ran the whole way in 35 minutes but felt slightly deflated at the finish as we had no supporters there to cheer us in. With that, we vowed to take part the following year and to get our family and friends to come along and support us! No one could ever have guessed that just a few weeks later, Sarah would be diagnosed with ovarian cancer…. A hysterectomy and chemotherapy followed and in 2007 Sarah was up and running the Race for Life again, she was truly an amazing woman and her strength amazed everyone. 2008 saw the return of her cancer and within days of the diagnosis, she had again signed up to the Race for Life and was rallying people to join her….
On 31st May 2008, Sarah sadly lost her battle….but more than 35 did the Race for Life together in her memory, including her 3 daughters (the youngest then just 6, and the twins 10).
I have spent the last year and a half concentrating my time on organising fundraising events for Cancer Research UK, as my way of coping with the heartache that comes from losing a loved one. I have already registered for RFL and my husband and I are going to Shine together in Manchester on 17th April. My aim for 2010 is to continue this fundraising in the hope that one day we can finally kick cancer.
So, in short, what will make me Shine in 2010?
Doing my bit to kick cancer … what will make YOU Shine in 2010?
www.sponsormetoshine.org/teamscott
What will make you Shine in 2010? A great question….
For those who have already heard of the new Cancer Research UK walking marathon, that question might make some divert your eyes to the floor, skip past the tweet or ignore the facebook post depending on how you were asked the question! Others, with slightly broader minds, might realise that, yes, the question relates to a fundraising idea, but your answer can be anything that might make you Shine…. A new job, an exciting holiday, jumping out of a plane, getting married…. You get the idea.
What will make me Shine in 2010 is solely related to fundraising - because it’s what I do!
I first did the Race for Life, for Cancer Research UK, in 2006 with my best friend Sarah. We just did it for a bit of fun really, and to raise money of course! We ran the whole way in 35 minutes but felt slightly deflated at the finish as we had no supporters there to cheer us in. With that, we vowed to take part the following year and to get our family and friends to come along and support us! No one could ever have guessed that just a few weeks later, Sarah would be diagnosed with ovarian cancer…. A hysterectomy and chemotherapy followed and in 2007 Sarah was up and running the Race for Life again, she was truly an amazing woman and her strength amazed everyone. 2008 saw the return of her cancer and within days of the diagnosis, she had again signed up to the Race for Life and was rallying people to join her….
On 31st May 2008, Sarah sadly lost her battle….but more than 35 did the Race for Life together in her memory, including her 3 daughters (the youngest then just 6, and the twins 10).
I have spent the last year and a half concentrating my time on organising fundraising events for Cancer Research UK, as my way of coping with the heartache that comes from losing a loved one. I have already registered for RFL and my husband and I are going to Shine together in Manchester on 17th April. My aim for 2010 is to continue this fundraising in the hope that one day we can finally kick cancer.
So, in short, what will make me Shine in 2010?
Doing my bit to kick cancer … what will make YOU Shine in 2010?
www.sponsormetoshine.org/teamscott
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)