Blood pact on Facebook

Connect to others from your blood group on the social networking website, thus creating a pan-India database.

Imagine this. A loved one is in desperate need of a blood donor and leaving his or her side you begin scouting blood banks in the city hoping they have the one group that matches what you need. Scary, right? That's precisely what socialblood.org helps you avoid. The service creates a platform to help address the blood shortage crisis by connecting blood donors and recipients of the same blood type through Facebook. Another good thing about it is that the service is being provided totally free of cost.

"It all started when I saw a friend's post on Facebook saying that his father needed blood. People responded immediately and I thought to myself, why not use the power of social networking sites to help the community at large," says Karthik Naralasetty, 22, founder of socialblood.org. Today, eight separate links on the site cater to the eight blood types. They connect 250-300 people in each group, thus, creating a pan-India database. People can also write in with their queries related to blood groups or donations and get tips on volunteering.

And there is more in store. Socialblood is now working to refine the database and making it location-based. This means that a person living in Mumbai will be able to gain immediate access to other donors from the same city as compared to the pan-India database that is currently available. They are also tying up with hospitals in cities across India. Then, people unaware about their blood type can call or write in to Socialblood. The site, in turn, will forward the details to hospitals, who will call them in and arrange for the blood test.

Incidentally, Socialblood recently won an award at the 5th Annual Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition organised by Staples and Ashoka's Youth Venture. As part of the prize, they will receive $500 and go on an all-expenses-paid trip to Techonomy 2011 from November 13 to 15, 2011 in Tucson, Arizona. Here, they are going to present the details of their location-based service.