Mark Zuckerberg on how the Facebook Community can help stop Ebola. Facebook Facebook

NOTICED SOMETHING DIFFERENT when you log in to Facebook? There is new ‘Donate Now’ button that appears at the top of your news feed asking if you would like to donate to the fight against Ebola.

This is part of a new effort by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to combat the spread of the virus.

In a video, launched last night, Zuckerberg spoke about the recent $25 million donation he and his wife made towards the fight against Ebola a couple of weeks ago, and now he says it is time for the Facebook community to play its part.

“… if we don’t act now it could become a global crisis,” said the Facebook CEO.

At Facebook, we want to make sure we do our part to help in the fight against Ebola.

This week, Facebook is rolling out three initiatives.

Setting up satellite communications 

They have sent Facebook employees to Guinea, Liberia and Sierre Leone to deploy mobile satellite communication terminals for medical staff and aid workers. 

They are also working with UNICEF to bring more information to the affected areas on how to prevent and detect the disease, and tell people where to go if they are infected.

Donate

Zuckerberg said they are also going to allow everyone on Facebook the chance to donate directly to the organisations on the ground in the affected countries, which is why you will see the new ‘Donate Now’ button on the top of your news feed.

Zuckerberg added:

This is an important moment in this fight and I am optimistic that together the Facebook community can help stop Ebola.

He is very serious about his new initiative and won’t have anyone saying that it is a marketing initiative.

In the comments section of Mark Zuckerberg’s post about the initiative, though, a Facebook user accused the company of simply launching the button as a marketing stunt:

Zuckerberg had a great response:

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Additional reporting Business Insider

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