Yahoo launches year-end giving campaign

As an extension of its year-round ''Yahoo For Good Purple Acts Of  Kindness'' program, Yahoo has launched its year-end giving campaign called ''You In?'' designed to inspire a ripple of kindness throughout the world.

Yahoo now encourages its global community of more than 600 million people to give back through random acts of kindness during the holiday season. Yahoo asks people to post online status messages there describing their good deeds, as a call for others to do the same.

For example, someone could post "I just dropped off a coat from my closet at a homeless shelter, You In?" or "I paid the toll fee for thecar behind me, You In?"

The message will appear in that person's Yahoo! status; can be shared via social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace; and will be displayed on an interactive global map on the campaign's Web site.

"We believe that one small act of kindness can ignite a ripple of generosity and we hope to inspire the Yahoo community to create a wave of goodwill around the world," said Meg Garlinghouse, senior director of Yahoo for Good.

"Update your status to share what you're doing to spread holiday joy and inspire others to also pay it forward."

Yahoo jump-started the programme by providing early participants $100 to help set-off the global ripple of generosity. It will use its network of services and its global online presence to help amplify and share these generous ideas to its vast community. Additionally, it will conduct its own acts of kindness inspired by people's status updates.

"If social networks and the Web can market products, why can't they be used to market kindness and generosity? It's exciting to see Yahoo! get behind a project that can inspire people to do good," said Dan Shapley, senior editor of The Daily Green.com.