Melinda Gates and Social Media

Within 21 hours of joining Twitter, Melinda Gates (@melindagates) has 17,876 followers. Why is she twittering? Melinda says on her blog post:

There is not a moment to waste when millions of people's lives and futures are at stake.

Twitter is an example of this—it is the type of vehicle that allows you to share stories of impact in an instant. I’ll be using Twitter to pass along stories that inspire me.

So far, Melinda has sent out four tweets. Will her presence in social media help shape the philanthropic conversation? How relevant do you think her tweets will be?

About the video: At the recent Social Good Summit, Melinda Gates addresses the crowd on why social media is important and how the Foundation will use it to connect with people.

Comments

[Julius Paras]

Her (Melinda Gates') catch phrase "social media for social change" reminds me of Professor Jennifer Aaker's book, "The Dragonfly Effect," which, interestingly enough, features a case study from the South Asian community and bone marrow donors: http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/book/ .

For celebrities, though, I think Twitter tends to extend their personal brand rather than the topics about which they tweet.