An interesting study of the Save Darfur Facebook campaign from Sociological Science, found that donation and recruitment rates were extremely low.
The Save Darfur page, one of the most popular causes on Facebook with over one million followers, was analysed between 2007 and 2010. Some of the more interesting findings:
- Facebook had an 0.24 percent donation rate — compared with typical rates of between 2 percent and 8 percent for direct mail
- 72% of members never recruited a new member to the cause
- Save Darfur raised about $100,000 on Facebook throughout the entire campaign – they raised over $1 million via direct mail in 2008 alone