The last time we mentioned Microsoft’s I’m initiative was just a couple of weeks ago when they announced that they had already raised $1.3 million dollars in a year. While impressive, reader “Iain Purdie” noted that this initiative is only available in the United States. Recently others have said that it’s a little disappointing that Microsoft hasn’t expanded it into a global effort. We believe eventually they will expand it so that it’s available in other countries and involves more global charities, but for now it looks like they’re just expanding it in the United States.
Now Microsoft has expanded the program to include not just Windows Live Messenger users, but Hotmail users as well. If you opt-in and you use Windows Live Hotmail, they’ll share a portion of their advertising revenue with a charity of your choice. So how do you go about doing it? For existing Hotmail users, you’ll want to click here. You’ll be taken to a page that looks like this:
From there you’ll just choose the charity or organization that you want to support, click save, and you’ll be all set to go. For those of you who don’t have an account, you’ll be able to opt-in when you’re setting up a new Hotmail account. Just remember, this is a US only option, for now.
Ooh, I’m famous
I had a little thought… I assume MSN “guesses” which country you’re logging in from based on your IP address. Having said that, I’m in France using a French telco for internet but all my MSN adverts seem to be UK-biased. I’ve certainly not seen any French ones, anyway.
However, if it does regionalise based on IP, I wonder if it would be possible to use a US-based anonymous proxy server for MSN use. Imagine the boost to the charities if everyone outside the US did that…
I’m not switching to Hotmail, though I will tell existing friends who are on it to join the program.
US only…yeah yeah, rest of the world doesn’t exist
I guess maybe because Microsoft is based in the United States, that’s where they start these projects?