Dead Twitter celebs emerge from their digital coffins – and in doing so raise $1 million for AIDS charities

It took longer than many thought — and comedians had a laugh at their expense — but singer Alicia Keys and her celebrity friends raised $1 million for an AIDS charity and, with it, lived to tweet again.

Keys and her Keep a Child Alive charity co-founder Leigh Blake on Monday said their widely-followed “digital death” campaign reached its $1 million goal after pharmaceutical entrepreneur Stewart Rahr pitched in $500,000.

At stake, along with raising funds to help millions of children and families living with AIDs in Africa and India, were the digital lives of celebrities who vowed to stay off social networking websites Twitter and Facebook until the $1 million was raised.

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The celebrities included Justin Timberlake, Ryan Seacrest, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Usher. Their campaign launched on World AIDS Day, December 1, amid great fan fare with the expectation it would quickly reach its goal.

After all, the celebrities all have millions of fans. Lady Gaga boasts 7.3 million followers on Twitter, alone. Justin Timberlake has 3.6 million, and Seacrest has 3.7 million.

Problem was, it took longer than many celebrity watchers thought, and as donations reached only $100,000 then $200,000, the stars became the butt of jokes on the Web, TV and radio. Their popularity — or lack thereof — was questioned, as was their fans' desire to keep them digitally dead.

But on Monday, the stars emerged from their coffins.

via AIDS charity raises $1 million, reviving dead celebs | Reuters

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.