The Hanging Chad

Minutes after the Great East Japan Earthquake, Twitter was on fire. I watched from Tweetdeck as #PrayForJapan shot to the top of the worldwide trending topics, hanging there for weeks. I remember sitting there proud and heartbroken at the same time; proud at the outpouring of global compassion and humanity, but heartbroken that the people in need of those prayers would most likely never see them.

We launched a program last Friday that aims to solve this: it is called Message to Japan. It is a global platform where people can submit a message of hope and encouragement for the people of Japan to help inspire and emotionally fuel the rebuilding process. While this idea is nothing new (Google, Toyota, and others had similar ideas), we wanted to go one step further. To me, supporting someone emotionally is only valuable if they actually experience the intention of your heart; figuring out a way to close that feedback loop was vital.

To address this, the messages submitted here will be broadcast and streamed here. Working with partners on the ground, we are setting up display screens at charity events, local businesses, and hopefully displacement centers. This is just our first step in this program - but we aim for this to be a sustainable and replicable system that can be turned on in the event of another global disaster. Social media can be used to narrow the gap that geography creates; never is there a time more vital for words of compassion and prayer to be heard than in a time of crisis. #communityFTW

UPDATE: Photos from some of the on the ground installations can be found on the Sony Facebook Page.