Text “Haiti” to 90999: $10M+ donated in Two Days via SMS

Updated 1/18/2010

Over $10M $21M USD (as of 1/18/2010) has been donated to the American Red Cross via SMS for the Haitian relief effort since the campaign launched early on Wednesday (1/13/2010). By comparison, $200K+ was donated by text after the Sumatra Tsunami in 2004 and $400K+ was donated by text after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The convergence of mobile SMS technology with social media has helped create the single largest mobile text donation campaign ever. Near universal availability of SMS on mobile handsets combined with carrier billing and the immediacy of the mobile channel makes mobile text messaging a natural partner with social media.

SMS—160 characters max(US limit)
Twitter—140 characters max

Each provides short, timely, action-based correspondence—sounds like the perfect recipe for generating emergency relief.

Since returning from Christmas break, I’ve been mostly heads down in strategic planning. Ironically, I’d anticipated my first post back would cover the significant mobile growth Omniture customers have seen over the past year or perhaps highlight Google/Admob, Quattro/Apple, or the Nexus One launch. However, the Red Cross campaign illustrates perfectly the trajectory mobile channels are on.

So, if you haven’t done it already, be sure to donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting Haiti to 90999 (readers outside the US will have to go to RedCross.org).

• Ed Hewett
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