MAKING THE SELFIE UNSELFISH.

When Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, the devastation was unlike anything the world had seen.

Everyone wanted to help. But they didn't know how.

We needed to tell people in a way that was pervasive, cheap and fast.

Selfies are more popular in the Philippines than any other country.

But after the tragedy, they were quickly seen as inappropriate.

So we looked for a way to make a selfie, unselfish.

By posting a picture of yourself - with your face covered by a paper showing a donation URL.

Starting with just one profile picture we demonstrated how the selfie could become unselfish.

The simple act of covering your face with a piece of paper struck a particular chord among people wanting to help.

And the hand-written donation URLs generated real and substantial donations to charities working to aid the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan.

Global news coverage increased the reach and exposure of the donation effort.

And high profile endorsers such as US Secretary of State John Kerry led to increased donations and awareness.

The unselfie. The simplest way to turn the selfie unselfish.

#UNSELFIE: A SOCIAL MEDIA PHENOMENON:

Within days of first appearance, the #unselfie was quickly picked up by online media.

Starting with trade press like Ad Age, and quickly spreading to global news outlets like CNN, BBC, NPR, Cosmopolitan and the Huffington Post.

It was taken up by leaders such as US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Mashable.com featured the #unselfie as 'the next big thing'

Gathering 131 million impressions in just three weeks.

Thousands of users posted news of substantial donations to Unicef, the Red Cross and countless other charities under the #unselfie banner.