Pimp With A Purpose
Continuing our discussion on whoring, defined as cheesy, seedy manipulation of your blog posts to get hits. (And I don't mention Anna Kournikova all that frequently.)
One of my two favorite Buffalo bloggers (I can't play favorites here) was accidentally caught up in the recent Jennifer Hawkins hoopla. However, she was caught up unintentionally, her name happens to be Jennifer. As the hits multiplied, she decided to put the additional traffic to good use (excerpts below, emphasis mine):
I have decided to whore myself for the common good...PLEASE click on the sites on your left EVERY DAY to make a difference in the world!
I know, I know...first Social Awareness Stamps and now this. But with the increase of traffic I HAD to add these links!...
Unsure of what to do about this massive increase in traffic. I mean, hello thank you for visiting...but wow!
...but now that I have the audience, I am not sure how to react...other than be myself, WHICH HAS GOTTEN ME INTO THIS SITUATION in the first place : ) Along with a little help from MSN.com!
So, what is a good Buddah Jen to do?
Not worry...roll with the changes...welcome the new people and embrace the old, all while being my own authentic self. Authentic All Things Jennifer posted about the thong story, without knowing what would happen...the loyal know I have an obsession. Ugh, I guess I am afraid of being a whore...but a whore for the good of mankind and the entertainment of all...I can handle. I mean what else do I have to do?
So what links did this Buffalonian (is that a word) add? These four:
The Breast Cancer Site
The Child Help Site
The Hunger Site
The Animal Rescue Site
Now I know what you're asking. "O," you ask, "how can clicking on a link help these people? Is this merely a plot to add me to an Ed Laning for Congress mailing list?"
At which point I would reply, "No, Erin, it's not." Let me - or let them - explain:
The Breast Cancer Site was founded to help offer free mammograms to underprivileged women nationwide -- women for whom early detection would not otherwise be possible. Since its launch in October 2000, the site has established itself as a clear leader in online activism and in the fight to prevent breast cancer deaths....
With the simple, daily click of a pink button at The Breast Cancer Site, visitors help provide mammograms to those in need. Visitors pay nothing. Funding is paid by site sponsors and benefits the nonprofit National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc....
Long-time environmental activists Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg met at the University of Michigan while working on the Michigan Bottle Bill ballot campaign in 1976. In the late 1990s, they recognized that broad consumer-adoption of the Internet offered a new opportunity to raise funds for good causes, which led them to found CharityMall.com, LLC, a cause-related shopping portal. As enthusiastic supporters of The Hunger Site, they realized the power of providing busy Internet users with a fast, free and easy way to make a difference and launched EcologyFund.com to give people the means to support wilderness preservation efforts worldwide. They are particularly excited to revive The Breast Cancer Site, as both are sons of breast cancer survivors.
More information from an nPost interview with Kunin:
The Hunger Site was founded by John Greene who at the time was a computer programmer. He came up with the idea of a click-to-give model where people would click on an Internet banner that would be sponsored by a specific site or group. Each sponsor then pays a royalty to charity....
The response was very dramatic. Traffic jumped from tens of people visiting per day to hundreds of thousands visiting per day. It became very difficult for John (the founder) to maintain the site, because he was working by himself. At the time, he was running it off of one server, and working extreme hours to keep it up and live. He decided to sell the site to GreaterGood, which was also one of his larger advertisers in the spring of 2000. They began running it, because realistically it would have been impossible for one person to run it....
As a company we acquired GreaterGood, which had ran out of money. Our biggest responsibility when we acquired their assets was to turn the company around. We wanted to ensure that it became a solid and profitable entity. The money that we are raising for our charity partners only exists as long as the company itself breaks even. This was our greatest challenge, and every decision we make is driven by that goal, which includes the extension of our network. We have accomplished that goal, and are now profitable.
Definitely an interesting idea, and I encourage all of you to FUND FREE MAMMOGRAMS by clicking on the pink button in the link. Why breast cancer? For personal reasons.
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