Online Entertainment = Poverty Alleviation?

A few of you may remember hungersite.com, the original click-to-donate website launched in 1999 based on the simple premise that if visitors to the site click a button on the site (limited to once per day), sponsorship from advertisers would allow the click to translate into a equivalent donation to 1.1 cups of food (via the World Food Program, the UN's food aid branch). I remember bookmarking it and visiting it frequently - however, I was never really sure whether it was really legitimate and really how everything worked. In fact, it has been successful: CharityUSA.com (the site's new owner as of 2001) in 2007 reported that 9.2 tonnes of food had been generated by the site.

More recently, the creator of hungersite.com, a computer programmer named John Breen, has made a similar site with the aim of alleviating worldwide hunger through simple site visits. What makes this site different? Its actually a game. The site, FreeRice.com, structures itself as a simple vocabulary game, with different levels. Breen fashioned the site after watching his son study for the verbal section of his SAT. It's much easier if you just check it out then if I try to explain it - so give it a go. For the competitive ones out there, I got up to level 29 before it started getting a bit difficult.

What sets FreeRice apart from the dozens of traditional charity sites (i.e. ecologyfund.com, therainforestsite.com, and gearthatgives.com) that rely on click-through advertising revenue and proceeds from merchandise purchses, is that it leverages the popularity of casual online games. In an article about the site in the NYTimes, author Rob Walker explains why this is notable:

With tens of millions of regular players, “casual games are among the stickiest, most-sought-after content online,” according to a white paper posted on the site of the International Game Developers Association. The core texts of casual gaming are solitaire and Tetris. It’s a safe bet that a great deal of casual gaming occurs in the workplace, where it’s more discreet than paddle ball.

The combination of simplicity and addictiveness of FreeRice is what has made it a success in capturing traffic from both office workers and students (college kids have even taken to competing against eachother on Facebook on the FreeRice app), and ultimately in its rice donation totals:

• October 7, 2007 - FreeRice launches with 830 grains of rice donated on its first day
• November 10, 2007 - FreeRice breaks the one-day 100,000,000-grain milestone with 122,377,240 donated grains
• November 28, 2007 - With continued sponsor support, FreeRice doubled the number of grains donated for each correct definition from 10 to 20.
• December 17, 2007 - FreeRice breaks the one-day 300,000,000-grain milestone with 358,559,540 donated grains
• December 19, 2007 - 10,000,000,000 grains donated in total
• January 20, 2008 - 15,000,000,000 grains donated in total
• February 25, 2008 - 20,000,000,000 grains donated in total

*Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Uganda are among the countries which have received food aid financed from FreeRice.

Walker notes that FreeRice is a triumph because it 'converts passivity into engagement,' and that it illustrates the power of one man (Breen) to change the world. Add to that the fact that Breen did this in his spare time and takes no salary or fees for his time. created not by a team of expert tech-marketing consultants, but by a guy in his spare time.

I believe another reason that FreeRice is a success is how it illustrates the power of technology. Here, we see that Breen took simple technology and really utilized it in a creative way to harness the power of the internet masses and tangibly help the poor and hungry in the world.