How to turn negative emojis into positive charity support
Howard Lake | 29 November 2017 | News
A new Chrome extension lets you convert your negative Facebook emoji reactions into positive actions to support charities and social change campaigns.
Every time the Emoji Reaction Project‘s free tool encounters an angry or sad emoji on one of your posts about a particular environmental or social issue, it will prompt you with three actions you can take on it: donate, do or dial.
Currently available only in the US, the extension’s ‘donate‘ option links you to a relevant nonprofit, selected via Charity Navigator’s API. Selecting ‘do‘ presents lists of protests and campaign meetings for you to attend, pulled in from filmmaker Michael Moore’s Resistance calendar of protests. Choosing ‘dial’ lets you connect with local politicians to connect with.
Don’t be sad – take action
The Emoji Reaction Project was inspired by the 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. A group of staff at ad agency Droga5 wondered how they could convert the outpouring of sadness and grief on Facebook posts about the killings into something more practical. They decided to create a tool that could apply to a wide range of issues.
The extension has been created as a ‘side project’ by the group. It lists 15 policy and causes with relevant actions for them. These include gun control, natural disasters, the environment, LGBTQ rights and women’s rights. More issues will be added soon.
For an action to present itself, the Facebook post has to contain one or more keywords that the project is set up to search for.
Although it is expanding in the US, there is no indication as to whether this will be expanded to the UK.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.