United Nations, New York. Photo by Mark Garten.
The United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, announced today the formation of a Social Media Envoy group chartered with inspiring and activating social media audiences throughout the year in support of malaria control. The Social Media Envoys are dedicated to utilizing their social profile to keep online and offline media audiences focused on the movement, milestones and resources required to achieve the Secretary-General's goal of providing all endemic African countries with malaria control interventions by the end of 2010.
The Social Media Envoys have agreed to take one social action, such as a tweet on Twitter or wall post on Facebook, in support of malaria control each month for 12 consecutive months. The first organized social action from this group will take place on World Malaria Day, April 25, 2010. The Social Media Envoys have been selected by the Special Envoy for Malaria due to the influence, size and engagement of their Social Web and broadcast audiences.
The 2010 Social Media Envoys
- Derrick Ashong, Musician, Social Activist & Oprah Radio host; www.twitter.com/ashong
- Veronica Belmont, Host of "Tekzilla" and "Qore" and Internet Personality; www.twitter.com/Veronica
- Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey; www.twitter.com/CoryBooker
- Sarah Brown, of the United Kingdom; www.twitter.com/SarahBrown10
- Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of "Mashable—the Social Media Guide"; www.twitter.com/mashable
- Anderson Cooper, CNN Anchor of "Anderson Cooper 360"; www.twitter.com/andersoncooper
- Dennis Crowley, Co-founder of Foursquare; www.twitter.com/DENS
- Anil Dash, Director of Expert Labs and Partner at Activate; www.twitter.com/anildash
- Justine Ezarik "iJustine", Internet Personality; www.twitter.com/iJustine
- Jack Gray, CNN Producer/Writer for "Anderson Cooper 360"; www.twitter.com/JackGrayCNN
- Arianna Huffington, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post; www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
- Guy Kawasaki, Co-founder of Alltop.com; www.twitter.com/GuyKawasaki
- Larry King, CNN Host of "Larry King Live"; www.twitter.com/kingsthings
- Loic Le Meur, Founder and CEO of Seesmic; www.twitter.com/Loic
- Alyssa Milano, Actress; www.twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano
- Dave Morin, Former Facebook executive- responsible for Facebook Connect and Platform; www.twitter.com/davemorin
- Jeff Pulver, Founder of 140 Characters Conference (#140conf) and Co-founder of VoIP (Vonage); www.twitter.com/jeffpulver
- Kevin Rose, Founder of Digg; www.twitter.com/kevinrose
- Chris Sacca, Founder of Lowercase Capital; www.twitter.com/sacca
- Ryan Seacrest, Founder, Ryan Seacrest Productions; www.twitter.com/RyanSeacrest
- Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter; www.twitter.com/biz
- Padmasree Warrior, CTO of Cisco; www.twitter.com/padmasree
- Jon Wheatley, Co-founder of DailyBooth.com; www.dailybooth.com/jon
- Randi Zuckerberg, Director of Marketing, Facebook; www.facebook.com/Randi
Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of the world's malaria control activities, with over 90 per cent of malaria deaths occurring on the continent. Over 190 million long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets have been delivered since 2007, covering nearly 400 million people or over 50 per cent of the endemic population, compared to less than 10 per cent in 2005.
