Facebook Prompts Major Spike in Calif. Organ Donation Registration

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Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Facebook Prompts Major Spike in Calif. Organ Donation Registration

California's organ donation database had a significant increase in registrations after Facebook on Tuesday introduced an optional "organ donor" status designation, the San Jose Mercury News reports (Swift/Carey, San Jose Mercury News, 5/1).

There are 21,989 California residents on a waiting list for organ or tissue transplants, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

In addition to displaying an organ donor status on Facebook users' profiles, members of the social media site are prompted to share their reason for registering to be a donor (Evangelista, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/2).

Effect on California Database

By late Tuesday, the Donate Life California website -- where California Facebook users were directed to register as donors -- reported an increase of more than 1,300% in online registrations from Monday.

On Tuesday, Facebook said it was on track to have more than 100,000 users declare themselves as registered donors (San Jose Mercury News, 5/1).