Facebook Wants to Know Where I Like My Purse. Here's Where They Can Put It.

Donna...this article struck me as poignantly funny and erudite. A friend of mine, yesterday, posted a "Note" on Facebook about all the cause-related memes, including the "where I like my purse" one. His opinion, in general, was that if we really wanted to make a difference, we could simply and easily give money to a nonprofit or charity that went toward a cause we believe in. Since I work for a nonprofit organization (Georgia Community Support and Solutions), in particular one that has a Facebook Cause, I would love to find more ways to get people's attention on social media sites. However, I wouldn't resort to something as (for lack of a better word) elementary as the purse-meme. Do you have other advice for individuals and organizations who are trying to get their message out to a large number of people? It's most welcome. Thank you!

I feel the same - that it's not useful in any way. My status offered to go with any friends who needed hand-holding to get a mammogram as the one friend who is dealing with cancer knows that I'm trying to make myself available for her as often as I practically can (which works out to not often enough b/c it's a two hour bus ride each way)

Instead of posting where you keep your purse, post how much you took out of that purse to donate to cure research.

who said the purse game had anything to do with cancer?

How dare you assume that there are those of us who may have 'frolicked' online with these goofy games haven't sat alongside someone suffering from ANY debilitating disease....I sat in a follow-up appointment with my mother and my mother's surgeon after her mastectomy....now as one of the caretaker of a very vulnerable person....no longer being cared for by the woman who cared for me for so many years...I listened closely and carefully about how to examine the wound site....to watch for possible infection...what to pay attention to with the drains below her armpit...I stood by my mother as she tried to stand long enough for me to quickly try to wash her hair in the sink and not hurt her because she so desperately wanted clean hair after way too long....that hair that she would eventually lose from chemo. Thankfully she had nurses coming in from time to time...and my mother is an almost 11 year breast cancer survivor! \

hear! hear! and, why don't we open up our purses, and show our support with a donation -- of any amount -- to support breast cancer research.

Copy-pasting a status such as "Support breast cancer awareness!" is so common nowadays that we hardly give it more than a cursory glance and it often doesn't even register in our minds anymore. Those statuses really, honestly do absolutely no good. Posting a status such as these double-entendres (assuming the viewer did not yet know about the purse thing) confuses the reader and forces them to think about it. It stays on their mind for longer, they start asking questions, even more questions once they start seeing it over and over again; once it is revealed that it's about breast cancer awareness, it actually has a lasting affect and stays on their mind longer, thus, making it slightly more likely that the person will actually do something about breast cancer awareness, whether it be volunteer, donate, or just pass on the word. I don't support the sexual innuendo, but I do honestly believe that these statuses do more good than what most people think of as "support" nowadays.

Why do you care who it's helping? How do you know it isn't helping someone? You can't speak for every breast cancer patient. One of my very close friends that I have known for years and is a Breast Cancer survivor supports all these types of awareness for the cause. Something is better than nothing regardless of what the circumstances are.

so what do you do if you don't actually know anyone with breast cancer and can't afford a donation? (aside from attending/participating in Hopewalk and other cancer research fundraisers or joining an organization that supports the American Cancer Society and other cancer research programs, such as Phi Sigma Rho)

As a gal who participated in this last year and will again this year, I have to say it has brought about awareness of this devastating disease. It meant that afterward my friends and I would talk about when we did our last self-exam and when our mammograms were scheduled. It might be silly and a waste of time to you, but for others it is a poignant reminder to take care of ourselves to reach out to those in suffering.