# Social media users urged to donate their profile for Refugee Week

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/01/social-media-users-urged-donate-their-profile-refugee-week/
- Published: 2009-06-01T15:06:51+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The British Red Cross is encouraging online social media users to donate their profile
spaces and images to highlight the needs of refugees during Refugee Week (15-21 
June 2009).

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/Redcross_changeyouronlinestatus_1243868626.
jpg)

The charity is urging its supporters to sacrifice their online identity temporarily
by changing their status profile to a single uniform ‘label’. This is designed to
remind people that refugees arriving in the UK are often labelled as a group, saddled
with the same “refugee” label and not seen as individuals.

The social media campaign is intended to encourage us to “look beyond the label”.

## Advertisement

Working with digital media agency LBi, the British Red Cross is offering a social
media toolkit which will include a range of ways to change your status tailored 
to each of the major social networking and communication platforms.

These include: profile pictures, instant messenger avatars, Twitter hashtags, a 
bebo skin, icons, blog badges and email signatures.

Users of Twitter and Facebook for example are encouraged to amend their statuses
to “[yourname] is looking beyond the label www.lookbeyondthelabel.org”

The multi-media aspects of the campaign will be supported with a poll of public 
attitudes towards refugees, seeking to debunk negative connotations around those
who seek sanctuary in the UK, to be targeted at print media, and Refugee Week events
at Red Cross centres around the country.

www.lookbeyondthelabel.org