Photo: (Getty Images)
While girlfriend Selena Gomez tweeted out nothing but birthday love for her "best friend in the world," the man of honor had his eyes on an ambitous b-day prize: to break the world record for the trending-est (yup, made it up) Twitter topic in a day ... while helping to make the world a better place in the process. Annnnnnddddd ... mission accomplished.
please for my birthday help me get people in need clean drinking water.thanks #makeachange - charitywater.org/justinbieber/
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) March 2, 2012
If you didn't already see (and retweet) the message above, there's still time to send a belated gift to the 18-year old Biebs. By donating $18 to charity: water, you can help people around the world access clean drinking water. Imagine having to walk for miles to lug jugs of water home to your family, or putting yourself at risk of parasites and disease every time you go to hydrate. 1 out of 8 people in the world don't have access to clean water so $18 will go a loooong way.
With close to 18 million Twitter followers, Justin did manage to bust through the previous Guiness World Record for "most social media messages in a 24 hour period" by collecting well over 200,000 "mentions." By doubling up a popularity contest with a fundraising push, Justin proved that while still young, he's a shrewd and self-aware business guy, using his star power in the best way possible. Hey, last weekend's Academy Award producers hoped that Justin would wrangle in the 18-24 year old audience . Let's give it up for Biebs recognizing that he has the power, then, to recruit 18-24 year old activists like himself.
actTAKE ACTION!
Give Justin a Gift
At the star's request, donate $18 to charity: water for his 18th birthday.
