We usually only hear about the negative aspects of social media, but there are good deeds being done by ordinary people online daily. Social media platforms and crowdfunding have benefited more people than you might expect.
In this article we list some of the positive social media stories likely to brighten your day. And these heartwarming tales are just a few of the good stories that have resulted from the internet coming together to help someone in need...
1. A KFC Wedding Proposal Leads to a Dream Wedding
When Hector Mkansi proposed to Nonhlanhla Soldaat while eating a meal at KFC, they never knew the offbeat proposal would lead to their dream wedding. Hector decided to propose to Nonhlanhla at KFC because it was her favorite place to eat.
The special proposal was captured on video by a bystander and posted on Twitter, where KFC South Africa asked its followers to find the couple. The video ended up with 25,000 retweets and people located the couple.
The video was so popular that the fast-food chain paid for the couple's wedding planner. Car companies like Audi offered to provide transportation for the couple on their destination honeymoon and the airlines Kulula and Mango volunteered to pay for their flights.
The pair enjoyed a dream wedding at the end of the year and an all-expenses-paid honeymoon thanks to all the donations from brands, celebrities, and online strangers.
2. An Ocean Spray Fan Receives a Much-Deserved Reward
Nathan Apodaca's truck broke down on the way to his job at a potato plant. He decided to make the best of a bad situation, so he got out his skateboard, grabbed a bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice, and rode to work. During the trip, he recorded a video of himself skating, drinking his juice, and lip-syncing to the 1980s song "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac.
Originally, Nathan wasn't going to post the video to the social media platform TikTok, but he decided to share it. It went viral with over 40 million views.
Ocean Spray saw the video and delivered a truck full of Nathan's favorite drink to him---and he got to keep the truck too! Ocean Spray has posted the video of the truck handover with Nathan on its Instagram account, and it is a must-see.
Millions of people, including the drummer of Fleetwood Mac, are recreating the video and posting the results on TikTok. If you would like to do the same, you can read up on how to get started on TikTok, even if you're a beginner.
3. The "Burger King Baby" Finds Her Mom
In 1986, a newborn baby was found wrapped in a red sweater in a Burger King restaurant's bathroom in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Almost thirty years later, the baby was a young mom who desperately wanted to find her own mother.
Katheryn Deprill posted a picture of herself on Facebook, holding a piece of paper with her story written on it and a plea to social media for help.
The picture was shared thousands of times, resulting in her biological mom contacting an attorney to arrange a meeting with her. The two women hugged, and Katheryn's mother explained that she didn't feel she had the means to raise a baby at the time.
Katheryn and her mother plan to meet again and her mother wants to be involved in her and her three daughters' lives.
4. A Special Birthday for Charlie
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a Charlie Manning's birthday party being canceled. The six-year-old girl, who is from Kamloops, Canada, was very sad about not being able to celebrate her special day with her extended family in the United States.
Charlie's aunt made a post on Facebook, asking that people make her birthday a day to remember. The post was shared on social media and the response was immediate and immense.
Charlie's grandparents, who she lives with, were overwhelmed by the 173 cards and 15 parcels she received from total strangers. It made Charlie's birthday extra special.
5. Schoolchildren Catch a Big Break
Jashika Khan and Mohammad Azajuddin from Kolkata, India, were filmed somersaulting and flipping on their way to school one morning. They had no idea this video would lead to them becoming viral sensations in 2019.
The video was posted on TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter by their teacher. As a result, it was eventually retweeted by Nadia Comaneci, an Olympic gymnast.
The attention from Twitter and Nadia resulted in the two preteens getting free gymnastic training, with meals paid for by the Sports Authority of India. With this excellent training, we may see these two again at the Olympics someday!
6. The "We Rate Dogs" Twitter Account Helps Hounds in Need
When Matt Nason created the We Rate Dogs Twitter page, he never dreamed it would go viral, but it did. The page, where he posts pictures of dogs and rates them (always favorably) for his audience, has accumulated over 8 million followers.
Matt decided to use his large platform for good by sharing the GoFundMe pages of dogs who needed surgeries and assistive equipment. When a 12-year-old golden retriever required a wheelchair, he asked his followers for help. The campaign raised over $700 in just a few hours and the pooch got his wheels.
Matt has raised over $500,000 for sick doggies to date.
7. Woman Saves an Injured Hawk With Help From Social Media
Madeleine Weatherhead was walking to work, when she saw a stunned hawk on a New York city street.
Madeleine called the Animal Care Center of New York, but her call went to voicemail. She had to go to work but wanted to help. So she snapped a photograph of the bird on her phone and posted it to Twitter, asking her followers to help the injured hawk.
Shortly after she posted the photograph, Special Operations Officers Maxwell Outsen and Joseph Bellomo arrived on the scene and carefully captured the red-tailed hawk. He was taken to an animal sanctuary where he made a full recovery and had a safe place to stay.
8. A Heroic Seeing-Eye Dog Gets a Second Chance
Cecil Williams lost consciousness and fell onto subway tracks in New York in 2013. He was saved by his seeing-eye dog Orlando, who jumped down and licked his face until he woke up. Unfortunately, Cecil and Orlando were too late to avoid the train but a subway employee was able to give Cecil instructions to get in the middle of the tracks.
As a result, they both survived as the train passed over them.
When Cecil was in the hospital, he revealed to the press that he couldn’t afford to keep his heroic dog because Orlando was at retirement age and insurance would only pay for a working service dog. Cecil stated that if he had the money, he would keep Orlando.
When Grant Kirsh, a law student in Indiana, saw Orlando and Cecil's story on the news, he was touched and decided to start an Indiegogo campaign for them. Their story was shared on social media and people donated their Christmas money to cover the expense of keeping Orlando.
The campaign raised over $50,000 in less than a day and resulted in the two being kept together, along with a new service dog. The Indiegogo campaign has raised over $103,000 for Cecil and his family to date.
If you would like to see how crowdfunding works and how to start your own campaign, check out our tips to reach your crowdfunding goals.
Using Social Media to Help Others
Social media allows us to help people in need even when we live far away from them.
In a few of these stories, all it took was someone who cared sharing a photograph or a story online to help someone in need. We all have the ability to do this, kindness is a free service we can perform daily and it makes us feel pretty good too.
