With J-Lo working the phones, Molly Sims -- aka @MollyBSims -- on Twitter, and Mick Jagger on a video Skype call, an all-star team of volunteers encouraged viewers to pledge an estimated $10 million-plus during a special two-hour Larry King Live on Sunday night.
Besides the touching display of celebrity-driven charity actually working, the show proved that Twitter, Skype, SMS and auction sites are no longer at all the domain of self-styled geeks. King regularly announced "the hashtag #cnnhelphaiti, all one word" without his producer feeling the need to explain what a hashtag is.
Earlier this week, King auctioned off a pair of his trademark suspenders at the charitybuzz site.
Last week, King's show raised $5 million, much of which came from viewers texting "haiti" to 90999 to add a $10 donation to UNICEF to their phone bill. Those donations reportedly aren't transferred until after donors pay their bills. But UNICEF volunteer and Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden explained that UNICEF had been doing poverty relief work in Haiti for four years before the quake, and that the cash would be needed to buy supplies "long after the cameras leave."
The exact tally of donations hasn't been announced yet, but King came on the air briefly to announce $8.9 million in pledges after the show, before its two-hour repeat later that night.
The most entrepreneurial of King's many guests turned out to be Sean Combs, aka Diddy. Brought onscreen after a donor had offered $1,000 for another pair of King's suspenders, Combs took over the conversation and announced that Larry's entire stock of suspenders were now up for grabs, with the first 5 pairs going for $5,000. After that, he said, the next 5 pairs would be $10,000. The man understands pricing.
Only one thing I don't understand: What sort of Twitternomics leaves Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Sims with only 148 followers?
I'm still looking for video of the show. Email paul@venturebeat.com with links.