Positive Social Media Stories

Ashley Rosson

Lately, a lot of negativity has been posted on Social Media, but there are good deeds being done by ordinary people online daily. Here are some heartwarming tales from social media over the past few years.

A Heroic Seeing-Eye Dog Gets a Second Chance:

Cecil Williams lost consciousness and fell onto subway tracks in New York in 2013. He was saved by his seeing-eye dog Orlando, who jumped down and licked his face until he woke up. Unfortunately, Cecil and Orlando were too late to avoid the train but a subway employee was able to give Cecil instructions to get in the middle of the tracks. As a result, they both survived as the train passed over them. When Cecil was in the hospital, he revealed to the press that he couldn’t afford to keep his heroic dog because Orlando was at retirement age and insurance would only pay for a working service dog. Cecil stated that if he had the money, he would keep Orlando. When Grant Kirsh, a law student in Indiana, saw Orlando and Cecil’s story on the news, he was touched and decided to start an Indiegogo campaign for them. Their story was shared on social media and people donated their Christmas money to cover the expense of keeping Orlando. The campaign raised over $50,000 in less than a day and resulted in the two being kept together, along with a new service dog. The Indiegogo campaign has raised over $103,000 for Cecil and his family to date.

Woman Saves an Injured Hawk with Help From Social Media:

Madeleine Weatherhead was walking to work, when she saw a stunned hawk on a New York city street. Madeleine called the Animal Care Center of New York, but her call went to voicemail. She had to go to work but wanted to help. So she snapped a photograph of the bird on her phone and posted it to Twitter, asking her followers to help the injured hawk. Shortly after she posted the photograph, Special Operations Officers Maxwell Outsen and Joseph Bellomo arrived on the scene and carefully captured the red-tailed hawk. He was taken to an animal sanctuary where he made a full recovery and had a safe place to stay.

A Special Birthday for Charlie:

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a Charlie Manning’s birthday party being canceled. The six-year-old girl, who is from Kamloops, Canada, was very sad about not being able to celebrate her special day with her extended family in the United States. Charlie’s aunt made a post on Facebook, asking that people make her birthday a day to remember. The post was shared on social media and the response was immediate and immense. Charlie’s grandparents, who she lives with, were overwhelmed by the 173 cards and 15 parcels she received from total strangers. It made Charlie’s birthday extra special.

An Ocean Spray Fan Receives a Much-Deserved Reward:

Nathan Apodaca’s truck broke down on the way to his job at a potato plant. He decided to make the best of a bad situation, so he got out his skateboard, grabbed a bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice, and rode to work. During the trip, he recorded a video of himself skating, drinking his juice, and lip-syncing to the 1980s song “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. Originally, Nathan wasn’t going to post the video to the social media platform TikTok, but he decided to share it. It went viral with over 40 million views. Ocean Spray saw the video and delivered a truck full of Nathan’s favorite drink to him—and he got to keep the truck too! Ocean Spray has posted the video of the truck handover with Nathan on its Instagram account, and it is a must-see. Millions of people, including the drummer of Fleetwood Mac, are recreating the video and posting the results on TikTok.

A KFC Wedding Proposal Leads to a Dream Wedding:

When Hector Mkansi proposed to Nonhlanhla Soldaat while eating a meal at KFC, they never knew the offbeat proposal would lead to their dream wedding. Hector decided to propose to Nonhlanhla at KFC because it was her favorite place to eat. The special proposal was captured on video by a bystander and posted on Twitter, where KFC South Africa asked its followers to find the couple. The video ended up with 25,000 retweets and people located the couple. The video was so popular that the fast-food chain paid for the couple’s wedding planner. Car companies like Audi offered to provide transportation for the couple on their destination honeymoon and the airlines Kulula and Mango volunteered to pay for their flights. The pair enjoyed a dream wedding at the end of the year and an all-expenses-paid honeymoon thanks to all the donations from brands, celebrities, and online strangers.