Changes in Facebook: Web plan hopes to boost activism

By Jessica Guynn

SAN FRANCISCO – May 25, 2007 –Young entrepreneurs Joe Green and Sean Parker are betting their generation is ready to turn on their computers and tune in to a good cause.

On Thursday, they took that message to the 24 million young people who
populate the social networking site Facebook. At a flashy news conference
in San Francisco, Facebook announced its strategy of allowing companies
such as Green and Parker's new venture to offer services on its site.

While most of those services will be business-oriented, Green and Parker
have created a way for Facebook users to highlight their favorite social
and political causes in the hopes of raising money and awareness. This
feature is a preview of the duo's venture, which they hope to release at
the end of June. Dubbed "Project Agape," the network will attempt to
enable large-scale political and social activism on the Internet.
Parker, 27, co-founded Napster and Facebook and recently joined Founders
Fund, the San Francisco venture capital firm that is backing Project
Agape. Green, 23, an early adviser to Facebook, which was started by
Harvard roommate Mark Zuckerberg, has long been active in political
campaigns, including his work as a field organizer in 2004 for Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry.

Now Parker and Green hope that online grassroots activism will become an
important part of Facebook. The service allows Facebook members to start a
cause, nurture it through e-mail invitations and raise money from their
networks of online friends to support any one of the more than 1.5 million
registered nonprofits in the United States, from the American Heart
Association to the Heritage Foundation. A "scorecard" on their profile
page will track how many people they have recruited and how much money
they have raised for their cause.

"The goal of all this is what we call 'equal opportunity activism,' "
Parker said.

Green says he believes the campaign will catch on with Facebook users just
like yellow wristbands and red iPods and cell phones helped boost causes
in the past. "People our age never get asked to give money. Yet they are
an idealistic, impassioned group that wants to get involved," he said.
Zuckerberg said: "I think what they are doing is interesting."

Project Agape is generating excitement among nonprofits, which long have
struggled to reach young people. Nonprofits spend significant chunks of
their budgets in direct marketing campaigns to attract members. In some
ways, this represents a return to the historic roots of relying on social
networking through charity marathons or auctions or local chapters. But
the power and reach of online networking could transform how these
nonprofits raise money and awareness in much the same way the Howard Dean presidential bid showed how the Internet could change the balance of power in political fundraising, analysts say.

Already, Facebook users have formed groups to address nearly every
imaginable cause. For example, Facebook has hundreds of groups campaigning to end genocide in Darfur, the largest of which numbers 410,000 users. "We see this as a powerful tool to engage a very passionate, motivated core group of individuals who are committed to our cause," said Save Darfur Coalition spokesman Allyn Brooks-LaSure.

The growing role of social networking in the 2008 election cycle makes
this experiment potentially very important for the future of American
politics, strategists on both sides of the aisle say. Not only might young
people become more engaged in the political process, politicians will be
able to connect with them on a more personal level and focus on the issues
that motivate them.

"The next generation in high school and college represent the potential to
have a 'we' not 'me' generation," said Democratic political consultant
Chris Lehane. "This will provide the platform for candidates to have
conversations with young people."

Republican political consultant Dan Schnur says the younger generation
votes in small numbers but shows its passion for making a meaningful
difference in the world by volunteering in greater numbers than any other
American generation in recent history. "This could end up being a very
good way to channel that civic spirit into political participation,"
Schnur said.