There’s a lot being said about social media at the moment, and Twitter in particular. Not all of it is positive. Many businesses and non-Twitter users decry the platform, calling it everything from banal to a fad that will be over shortly.

Most of the criticism from the business side comes from the belief that you can’t measure Return on Investment, or ROI. Where will the numbers and dollars come from?

On the personal side, non-users call Twitter childish and immature, with people discussing their dinners and drinking habits.

While it’s true these conversations take place (and why not – it is a conversation outlet, after all) there’s a lot more to Twitter than meets the eye – something that was proven emphatically on Thursday March 19.

The 12for12k Challenge is an ongoing charity project that’s happening throughout 2009. Using the power of social media for good, the objective is to support 12 different charities and raise $12,000 for each one. One charity is chosen each month as the focus of the 12for12k cause.

The March charity is Share Our Strength, which combats child hunger in the US. In a unique approach, a 12-hour charity tweet-a-thon took place on Twitter to raise funds for the March charity. Organized by leading Twitter user and marketer Scott Stratten, the aim was simple – raise $12,000 in 12 hours.

Prizes were donated by various people to raffle and help the tweet-a-thon toward its target. Beginning at 10.00am Eastern, donations soon started flooding in. So much so that the $12,000 target was reached in only six hours. By the end of the tweet-a-thon, the amount for the March charity stood at $14,546.

What’s amazing about this event is that it was run solely on the platform that so many claim to be a waste of time. As people tweeted about it and urged others to support or donate, the figures and traffic to the 12for12k website spoke for themselves:

•    2,900 visitors to the website
•    100 pages of tweets about the #12for12k hashtag and tweet-a-thon
•    381 people donating raising just over $13,000 in 12 hours

The result is the equivalent of food for almost 14,000 pre-school children, or half a million families in the US benefiting from free meals for kids during the summer holidays.

What the 12for12k tweet-a-thon proved without the shadow of a doubt is that the real power of the Internet has being handed back to the people who use it the most. By raising so much money for a good cause and raising awareness of the 12for12k charity itself, it gave back more ROI in social media than any arguments businesses can argue against.

Of course, the real success will be if this groundswell of momentum for the 12for12k project can carry forward into April and beyond. With multi-city charity tweet-ups planned for April 18 for 12for12k’s next charity, the opportunity is there for people to continue supporting this cause and show that Twitter and social media can make a difference.

So now it’s your turn. You’ll see that there are three ad spots for charities on this blog now. This is to raise awareness for different charities throughout the year and I want you to help me pick them.

Leave your suggestions as to which charity should be highlighted in the comments and I’ll happily look at each one and offer free ad placement for the ones chosen. Over to you.