Over the past week or so, Zukerberg and his team have been hinting that there will be a new “life-saving feature” integrated into Facebook’s Timeline, and today it was announced: you can now tell the world you’re an organ donor.
"Starting today, you can add that you're an organ donor to your timeline, and share your story about when, where or why you decided to become a donor," Zuckerberg said when speaking on Good Morning America, "Even one individual can have an outsized impact on the challenges facing another, and on the world."
The ability to add that you’re an organ donor doesn’t stop at just adding it to your Timeline. If you check out the feature, you can actually click on a button that will take you to your local registries (in the UK and in the US, but Facebook has said they are working on other countries as well) so you can register to become an organ donor with just a few clicks and words.
Zuckerberg says he was inspired by his close friend Steve Jobs, the late Apple Inc. co-founder, as he was actually a liver transplant recipient earlier in his life. "This is an important event in people's lives, and we want to make it simple," he said when being interviewed on Good Morning America. "We can be a big part of helping solve the crisis out there."
Facebook, since its origins, has turned into a powerful tool for communication and networking. This is the first step, the company claims, in making Facebook not only a powerful personal interaction tool and business tool, but a tool that makes a difference. More than 114,000 people in the US alone and many, many more worldwide are waiting for a transplant that may never come. An average of eighteen of these people die a day because there are simply too few organ donators to meet the overwhelming need. CEO Zukerberg is hoping that a little more awareness – considering that Facebook has almost a billion users worldwide – will help bring the need to light and save more lives.
Facebook says their mission is simple: to connect the world in ways it’s never been connected before, and it starts with the little things.