Site taps the crowds’ social networks for flash mob-style promotion of social causes

Thunderclap lets supporters unite through social media with what it calls the first-ever “crowdspeaking platform.”

Regular Springwise readers will already be well-acquainted with the concept of crowdfunding, whereby groups of people can band together to jointly fund a new product or idea. Applying much the same concept to the promotion of social causes, Thunderclap lets supporters unite through social media with what it calls the first-ever “crowdspeaking platform.” Similar in some ways to The World’s Most Valuable Social Network, which we just recently covered, Thunderclap lets users join together to speak out on a particular cause through a single message that gets mass-shared at the same moment, much like a flash mob. Anyone can start a Thunderclap for free by registering through Facebook and describing a cause they want to support. As with most crowdfunding efforts, they also specify a deadline and a goal for the number of supporters they hope to recruit. Visitors to the Thunderclap site can then sign up to support the cause through Facebook or Twitter. If the target number of supporters isn’t reached by the deadline, the message won’t get sent; if it is, however, Thunderclap sends the message out on the social network accounts of all those who supported it. Operated by New York-based De-De Group, Thunderclap currently focuses its distribution efforts on Facebook and Twitter, but it will add other social networks soon, it says. Social entrepreneurs around the globe: one to put to work for you? Spotted by: Murtaza Patel