Help Victims of Ondoy through Paypal, Credit Card Donations

I checked the net on ways we can help our Kabayans who were affected by Ondoy. I know we all have our reasons why some of us can’t possibly volunteer to rescue operations, or probably send goods to donation centers. But one of the easiest ways (and the least of what we should do) on how to help is by using Paypal or our credit cards. For those who are familiar with the platform, you know you can use your own account to donate. And if you don’t have a Paypal account, you can use your credit card either to create an account or directly make your donations.

Right now, I only know of one organization who’s accepting Paypal donations. Please refer to http://www.txtpower.org/. Inquirer published their story so I would have to take that as an assurance that they are legit. Here’s the story: http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20090927-227196/Help-Ondoy-victims-via-Paypal.

Help Ondoy victims via Paypal

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 23:13:00 09/27/2009

MANILA, Philippines – Consumer group TXTPower is urging Filipinos abroad to help the victims of typhoon Ondoy through donations via Paypal.

The group’s head Ian Anthony Cruz said Filipinos especially those abroad can help victims of tropical storm Ondoy via the organization’s Paypal account.

Donations will be sent to the Philippine National Red Cross.

Donations can also be made via SmartMoney (5577-5144-1866-7103) or
GCash 0917-9751092 or directly to Red Cross, said Cruz.

Paypal users, you may send your donations to magbayanihan@yahoo.com.ph or by visiting this Paypal page: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8484182

If you know of some other organizations who could “help us help” Ondoy victims, please share them. Let’s try to help in our own little way.

1 Billion Online Users… and Counting

(I wrote this last March in a techblog I am trying to set up, so, what I have here is a 6-month-old set of data. Hehehe.)

Did you know that there are more than a billion online users in the whole world? There are about six billion of us here on earth and almost 20 percent frequently access the Internet. Also, a range of 25 to 35 million are active members of different popular social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, Blogspot, WordPress, etc.).

What is this for me? Right now, I know I have the potential to reach out (directly and through their connections) to a few hundred million people simply by making a post in my Facebook account. Or posting through this WordPress blog… like this one.

Again, what is this for me? This means if I know how to utilize the power of the Internet, I can open up a business and/or consultancy site and have a potential 1 billion business leads. Offline, reaching out to a hundred people is already a pain in the ar$e. So, maybe, this potential should not be ignored. It shouldn’t be.

Three random facts about social media platforms:

1. Obama announced his running via Twitter first. He has more than half a million comments in his Facebook account and more than 5 million friends when I checked. he also has a MySpace account, a YouTube Channel, and some more.
2. Facebook’s creator is Mark Zuckerberg, a 23-year-old dropout from Harvard, and is worth more than a billion dollars.
3. Friendster is most popular in Asian countries; with Facebook and Multiply coming in next.

Here are some of the most popular social media platforms (super-lazy to put the links, just Google them, they’ll probably in the top result — else they are not that popular at all, hehehe):

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Blogspot
4. WordPress
5. LinkedIn
6. Digg
7. Technorati
8. Stumbledupon
9. Friendster
10. Multiply

Open one and explore possible opportunities — be it professional, personal, or business.