Anyone who’s set up a Google Alert for Austin, as I have, was probably waiting for the day they were going to find something of value among all the soccer mom-scaring headlines generated by MyFoxNewsAustin.com. Ladies and gentlemen, today is that day. Today is free pancake day.
According to some dude who appears to know, if you make a donation to the Shriners Hospitals at participating local IHOP locations, you get free warm, fluffy pancake goodness. Normally I’d tell you to steer clear of your vast, far-reaching organizations of mostly old white dudes in funny hats, but I believe an exception is not only necessary but proper in this instance. Especially since this bunch of mostly old white dudes seems to have come up with a fairly innovative way to get people to the free food: teh Internetz.
Instead of traditional promotion methods, Shriners wrote blog posts about the pancakes and encouraged others to vote for them on Digg.com, etc. One Shriner blogger says: “Site users from the area near the event who want to get involved and involve others will see the post and vote for it. As the post receives more votes, it will become more visible and more area users will hear about the event.” Om nom, nom, nom.
This article appears in February 8 • 2008.