On second thought, nursing mothers should not donate breast milk to Haiti. I earlier posted that some groups were calling for donations because the infrastructure for delivering it was now in place. Apparently, it isn’t. It turns out that “a bevy of United States breast-feeding advocates may have unleashed a well-meaning but misguided flood of mothers’ milk to the earthquake-shattered nation, one that aid workers in Haiti say was not requested — and is not needed,” reports msnbc.com’s JoNel Aleccia.

“Tell them not to send it,” said a spokesman for the American Red Cross.

The Human Milk Banking Association earlier issued “urgent” call for breast milk. Now, the Emergency Nutrition Network has asked the association to retract that call.

Donations of breast milk could create logistical problems in Haiti and create an “unfeasible and unsafe intervention” according to the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance in a statement.  

It appears that the Human Milk Banking Association, along with others such as the La Leche League, may have jumped the gun. Nevertheless, the Milk Banking Association’s executive director, Pauline Sakamoto, says that the group ” was just trying to fill a need,” Aleccia writes. Sakamoto also said that donated milk will not be wasted, even if it doesn’t make its way to Haitian infants.

Aleccia writes: “While representatives for aid agencies such as the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and World Vision said there never was a need for donated milk, some agencies said they heard from workers at orphanages in Haiti who indicated that babies were going hungry.”

No doubt. But if sending milk is going to cause more problems than it solves, it shouldn’t be sent. And as well-meaning as the groups might be, they really should check with disaster-relief officials before issuing such calls.

And: ” ‘This was very grass roots,’ said Amanda Nickerson, executive director of the International Breast Milk Project,” according to Aleccia. That’s also great. But there are reasons that the “grass roots” aren’t put in charge of disaster response.

The Human Milk Banking Association and the other groups had said that they arranged for donations to be transported to a U.S. Navy hospital ship off the coast of Haiti. But now the staff of that ship is holding the milk because of the concerns that have been raised. 

2. Twitter, LinkedIn to partner, share status updates.

3. 607.5 million people worldwide will access social networks via mobile devices by 2013 and 150 million in US to use smart phones by mid-2011.

4. Google giving free wireless in 47 airports through January 15 (and indefinitely in Burbank, Seattle).

5. College students spend twice as much time on computers as compared to television.

2. Nearly a quarter of US households watch TV online, up from 20 percent last year.

3. In 8 years, online video consumption will be measured in exabytes!

4. Social networking sites accounted for more than 20 percent of all display ads viewed online, although more than half of media plans in 2010 will include social media.

5. Gmail users have highest email click through rate, near 31 percent, and speaking of click-through, the best day for Facebook branded content click through is Tuesday.

Pre-paid credit cards for teens

Imagine the opportunity here. A market which spends an incredible amount of time online, with (in most cases) nothing but disposable cash which is already topped up on a card and ready to be spent online – on whatever they choose.

The card is available to 13 – 18’s, costs only $5.95 to setup and can be topped up to a maximum of $1000 spend limit.

In a way, we could look at it as prepping the next generation of consumers, acclimatizing them to the process of shopping online.The card comes with a catch (albeit a very minor one), the holder of the card needs to have an active MySpace account.

Concert tickets, clothes, iPods, pre-paid pone credit, music – all the things that teens would typically have to ask Mum and Dad to buy for them, they will now have the flexibility to buy themselves online.

It’s great that ANZ have identified this opportunity, but perhaps it would be wise to extend the offer to Facebook account holders – not just MySpace.

With two thirds of all teens using some form of social networking site, the sky’s the limit.

When you think about this new generation of shoppers, and the existing online market – do you really have a reason not to take your business online?

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