If you've been around the Social Media space for any amount of time, there's a good chance you've crossed paths with Drew Olanoff.
My first impressions of Drew were that he was somewhat of a 'character'.
As I read his blog posts over a few years and followed his career, I realized, in many ways, he's very much like me.
Drew is a compassionate and giving person. He cares about EVERYBODY. If someone's in trouble or something touches him deeply, chances are, you'll read about it somewhere on the Net.
Image my SHOCK when I arrived home last night and caught the very disturbing news (in my Google Reader and on FriendFeed), that Drew has been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma.
Louis Gray, Duncan Riley, and others had already done blog posts trying to help.
In the meantime, Drew was ... ugh ... Drew. An incredible strong yet soft attitude, with an outright ambition to beat his cancer and help OTHERS by launching BlameDrewsCancer.com.
Last night (and this morning), the site is BUSY (and it'll take about 15 seconds for YOU to help!).
In typical Olanoff style, Drew is asking anyone with a gripe about anything to use the hashtag #blamedrewscancer on Twitter (link from Twitter's search).
Hundreds of people (most of whom I've never heard of) are chiming in and doing just that as I write this. (The tweets appear on the website).
I chatted briefly with Drew this morning on GChat and asked .... "Is there a sponsor yet?". Drew, (incredibly upbeat and extremely grateful for the outpouring of support) replied "Not yet but I've had a few inquiries. Right now, we're trying to get a counter on the website".
Check out the website. Then go over to Twitter and blame Drew's cancer for something.
Can Twitter help cure cancer? There's only one way to find out.
Update: Google is all over this :
Update 2: Here's the feed from Topsy
Update 3 June 5, 2009 8 AM ET: Some prominent websites join the cause (from TechMeMe):
Update 4: June 7, 2009 9 AM ET: A new twitter address has been set up for updates etc at @drewscancer .