(From the AP) Until this week, Invisible Children seemed to be an aptly named organization. Its work in Africa to end the use of children soldiers was barely visible to most Americans.
Then the nonprofit group posted a video that went viral with help from celebrities it targeted to spread the word online. By Thursday, only a few days after its release, the 30-minute video had more than 40 million views on YouTube. Invisible Children was among the top 10 terms trending on Twitter in the United States.
Ben Keesey, the group’s 28-year-old chief executive officer, rattles off the names of celebrities who lent support when asked to explain the success of the video targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, a bush fighter wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
The website www.kony2012.com prominently displays the faces 20 disparate celebrities — from Warren Buffett and Bill O’Reilly to Tim Tebow and Stephen Colbert — asking viewers to click on them to send a message. It also shows 12 politicians from across the ideological spectrum.
Read more here: Africa video, Kony 2012, raises California group’s profile