Internet meme + charity = URL shortener?
Those of you more plugged in to the meme side of the ‘net will have already heard of “Sad Keanu Reeves,” a particularly poignant image of The Matrix (and Little Buddha!) star eating a sandwich on a park bench. Well, one journalist and Mashable contributor, Shane Snow, has found a way to take this melancholy meme and spin it toward social good.
Snow has created a URL shortener — http://kea.nu — that allows you to both easily and simply share links, get in on the most recent viral memes and benefit the charity, Stand Up 2 Cancer. All you have to do is enter the link you want shortened, and then do what you will with it (i.e. share it to Facebook (
), Twitter (
), etc). When your friends and followers click on said link, they will be directed to an ad as well as the iconic “Sad Keanu Reeves” image. The user can then click through to the link.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a URL shortener used for charitable purposes — Good.ly donates 55% of referrals fees to a charity of your choice if you use it to create a link to a product or service online. Kea.nu, however, works with all links and donates 100% of money generated to charity.
So why Stand Up 2 Cancer? According to Snow, Reeves’s sister has Leukemia, and the actor is actively involved in promoting cancer research and charities.
And for those of you worried about the toll the tool will take on your Twitter feed, Snow assures us, “After a couple weeks, we’ll 301 redirect the url so there is no more ad and your SEO can flow like Jay-Z.”
Nice.
SHHHH!! Nobody tell Ted!!
Thanks a heap for the post @mikeyil!
