SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Kindness is contagious this holiday season. Based on the belief that it doesn’t take a great deal of money or time to spread happiness, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced the launch of a year-end giving campaign called ‘You In?’™ designed to inspire a ripple of kindness around the world.
As an extension of its year-round Yahoo! for Good Purple Acts of Kindness program, Yahoo! now encourages its global community of more than 600 million* people to give back through random acts of kindness during the holiday season. Yahoo! asks people to visit kindness.yahoo.com and post online status messages there describing their good deeds, as a call for others to do the same.
For example, someone could post “I just dropped off a coat from my closet at a homeless shelter, You In?” or “I paid the toll fee for the car behind me, You In?” The message will appear in that person’s Yahoo! status; can be shared via social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace; and will be displayed on an interactive global map on the campaign’s website at kindness.yahoo.com.
“We believe that one small act of kindness can ignite a ripple of generosity and we hope to inspire the Yahoo! community to create a wave of goodwill around the world,” said Meg Garlinghouse, senior director of Yahoo! for Good. “Update your status to share what you’re doing to spread holiday joy and inspire others to also pay it forward.”
Yahoo! jump-started the program by providing early participants $100 to help set-off the global ripple of generosity. Yahoo! will use its network of services and its global online presence to help amplify and share these generous ideas to its vast community. Additionally, Yahoo! will conduct its own acts of kindness inspired by people’s status updates.
“If social networks and the Web can market products, why can’t they be used to market kindness and generosity? It’s exciting to see Yahoo! get behind a project that can inspire people to do good,” said Dan Shapley, senior editor of The Daily Green.com.
Notable Purple Acts of Kindness:
– “I traded in a $100 bill for 100 one-dollar bills and wrote a note on each that read: ‘Please take this dollar bill, add one dollar bill, and pass it on.’”
– “I helped an 85-year-old neighbor bring her Xmas decorations down from the rafters — all 12 boxes!”
– “I helped an elderly lady carry her groceries to her car.”
– “I am baking Christmas cakes to share with friends in need of help.”
– “I dropped off supplies at the local Humane Society and at the local women’s shelter.”
For additional information about Yahoo!’s ‘You In?’ campaign and to learn more about passing along acts of kindness this holiday, visit kindness.yahoo.com, view and upload pictures to Flickr, or visit Yodel Anecdotal. You In?
About Yahoo!
Yahoo!’s vision is to be the center of people’s online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its engaging content and services and innovative technology, making it one of the most trafficked Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).
Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.
All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
* comScore Media Metrix Worldwide Data, October 2009
