Reflections on Social Media and Demographics

For about two weeks I have been involved with a Facebook campaign sponsored by JPMorgan Chase who is giving away $5 million to charity. All one has to do is vote. Voting can be via Facebook or by Chase cardholders logging in and voting.

I have about 45,000 email subscribers but could only ring up about 1450 votes. A few days in the campaign we had perhaps 500 votes and were in 32nd place, good enough for a nice $50,000.

Yet, I was surprised by such a feeble showing in relation to the number of subscribers of this blog.

I contacted Calculated Risk, and he was not surprised at all. He related that he once did something via Facebook and only got 100 responses, and his email list is way bigger than mine.

I talked to John Mauldin and got the same story. Very few of his million subscribers use Facebook.

Calculated Risk said I would be shocked at how viral this campaign would get towards the end from those actively using Facebook. He was correct. The leader now has 78,000 votes but had less than a thousand when I talked to him.

I had misread the rules when I first posted. I thought one had to be a Chase account holder to vote. You don't. Worse yet, those voting from their account only get one vote. Those voting on Facebook get two votes (but cannot be for the same place) with a chance for an extra vote (used anywhere).

The result is only those campaigns populated with younger demographics had any realistic chance of winning a top prize.

Clearly JPMorgan has instituted its campaign this way on purpose, hoping news about Chase will go viral, and it did. Yet, I wonder how many of those votes are from those in grade school who will not have an account for a decade or longer. Will it even influence where they open accounts?

Nonetheless, something will go to the charity of my choice, Les Turner. However, we are right on the bubble. This is a moving target, but as of this morning we need about 50 more votes to move up one notch to get an extra $10,000 ($20,000 instead of $10,000).

So for one final time (the campaign ends September 19) ...

Facebook Users, I Have a Favor to Ask

Chase is giving away $5 million to charity.

The charity with the most votes will receive $250,000!
The next 10 charities will receive $100,000 each.
The next 35 charities will receive $50,000 each.
There are 150 additional awards as per contest rules.

Please click on Chase Community Giving to vote for your favorite charity.
The above link points to Facebook and comes preloaded pointing to Les Turner ALS Foundation.

You will need to approve Chase Community Giving on Facebook. One click is all it takes.

Why Les Turner?

In case you missed it my wife of 27 years, Joanne, passed away on May 16, 2012 from ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Here is my story: My Wife Joanne Has Passed Away; Stop and Smell the Lilacs.

In July, I submitted the Les Turner ALS foundation to the Chase Community Giving program and it was approved.

Mish Request

I kindly ask those with Chase Credit Card or Chase accounts of any kind, to please login to your chase account and vote.

Please do so.
Thanks.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock