This morning, Facebook announced that it's making organ donation social. From today, you'll be able to declare that you're an organ donor on your timeline—something that Zuckerberg hopes will drive more people to sign up to donate.
The Facebook initiative will provide links with every Timeline post which will enable friends and family to sign up to the program, reports The Next Web. At the risk of using an inappropriate medical metaphor, organ donation could actually go viral. Facebook explains the feature:
"With the addition of "organ donor" to the Life Events section of timeline, you can state your intention to become an organ donor, and share your story about when, where or why you decided to become a donor. If you are not officially registered as an organ donor, sign up with the appropriate registry."
To declare that you're a donor, you have to add a new life event to your timeline, then select the Organ Donor option from the Health & Wellness section. It's currently available for US and UK residents, and more countries will be added soon.
Even though this does feel like a slightly labored attempt to make yet another very personal aspect of our lives social, but with almost 114,000 people in need of donor organs any push to encourage people to sign up has to be seen as a very positive step. [The Next Web / Good Morning America]
Image by Spirit-Fire under Creative Commons license