FAQ

A Million Tweets to Remember (1Mtweets) is a social media campaign created by philanthropist Jordan Banks. His idea is to create a grass roots movement on Twitter to digitally memorialize a million people (past or present) who suffered from Alzheimer's disease and fully integrate the one million tweets into Facebook. His hope is that 1Mtweets increases awareness around the disease. The more people around the world that understand the realities of Alzheimer's and the effect it has on the person living with the disease and their caregivers, the better chance we are going to have of finding a cure for it in the near future.

Jordan Banks, the creator of 1MTweets, is a private citizen and dedicated philanthropist who has personally raised more than $1M over the past decade to support Alzheimer's research and care. A well known businessman and technologist, Jordan saw the opportunity to leverage Twitter to accelerate awareness and fundraising for Alzheimer's and to create a movement to digitally memorialize a million people (past or present) who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He founded A Million Tweets to Remember in honor of his four grandparents who each battled Alzheimer's disease.

Nearly six million North Americans have Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. It is estimated that within a generation, that number will more than double. With the support of funding, researchers are confident that within five to seven years, there will be treatments that attack the disease process itself, and not just the symptoms.

Harnessing the power of Twitter, this program intends to help get one step closer to a world without Alzheimer's disease.  One tweet at a time, the program wants to achieve the digital memorialization of one million people (past and present) who have suffered Alzheimer’s disease.

As part of the movement, we also hope to raise a significant amount of money for research projects focusing on the aging brain and Alzheimer's disease. In that regard, we are respectfully suggesting that a minimum donation of $1 be made through our web site (http://1mtweets.com) for every tweet. 

Twitter is a powerful platform. It is a microblogging service that allows users to post content in 140 characters or less. It is estimated that there are currently 35 million users on Twitter, and everyday an average of 1.9 million tweets are posted. The transfer and sharing of information and level of engagement on Twitter is incredible.

You would be surprised how easy, fast and simple it is to use Twitter. Come on, give it a try. In addition to Twitter, 1Mtweets is also fully integrated into Facebook. You can become a fan by going to our Facebook Fan Page. There you can upload photos and engage with others who have been touched by Alzheimer's.

You can also go to http://1mtweets.com, to learn more about the program, get ongoing updates from Jordan Banks on his blog, and donate to the cause.

If you're new to Twitter and you want to participate, click on the signup page; http://twitter.com/signup to get your own free Twitter profile.

We are automatically including in every tweet the hashtag (#1Mtweets) and the site URL http://1mtweets.com so we can insure all tweets in the program can be aggregated. These two insertions take up 30 characters leaving you with 110 characters to write your message.

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As people use Twitter to share thoughts, memories, stories, and shared experiences, they will be honouring their loved ones - preserving and connecting the pieces of memory Alzheimer's forces them to leave behind.

Each Tweet will form a digital memorial -a tapestry of shared memories, remembering loved ones while helping connect those whose lives have been forever impacted by this horrible disease.

You will also have the ability to create a multi-media tribute (we are calling it a Twibute) in honour of your loved one, adding video/photo/text etc. to expand on your Tweet.

Best of all, everything you do as part of 1Mtweets is fully integrated into Facebook.

A "Twibute" is our attempt to allow you to build on the sentiments of your tweet by creating a page full of video, pictures and text to honor the person about whom you tweeted.

We've set-up a PayPal account to receive donations that come in through Twitter and you can also donate directly using a credit card. All proceeds will be allocated through the Alzheimer Society of Canada in collaboration with the American Alzheimer Association to research projects focusing on the aging brain and Alzheimer's disease.

Tax receipts will only be issued for donations over $20. If you would like a tax receipt for your donation over $20, you will be asked to donate directly to either The Alzheimer Society of Canada or The American Alzheimer's Association during the online donation process.

If you have any doubt as to the legitimacy of the campaign, please contact Elaine Wong at The Alzheimer Society of Canada for verification of the integrity of the program, ewong@alzheimer.ca

All proceeds will be allocated through the Alzheimer Society of Canada in collaboration with the American Alzheimer Association to research projects focusing on the aging brain and Alzheimer's disease.

Other than a small amount of money spent to build the site, every single cent donated goes directly to research projects focusing on the aging brain and Alzheimer's disease.

Please email 1Mtweets@gmail.com

For media inquiries, contact:
Stephanie Marton, 416-979-1120, stephanie.marton@edelman.com