On Thursday last week THON teamed up with social media philanthropy Abolish Cancer to conduct the second annual TwitterTHON. In less than 8 hours @abolishcancer received more than 4,000 new followers on Twitter. Those new followers translated into a $4,000 donation to THON.

While the amount of money raised exceeded the site’s expectations, the greatest surprise was the passion with which everyone tweeted and retweeted to spread THON’s message. Sure, the Penn State community participated, but so did a bunch of “Twitterati.”

This isn’t the first time that THON and Abolish Cancer teamed up– last year the duo conducted two TwitterTHONs that also raised thousands of dollars for THON. We’ll certainly see THON’s social media love grow over the next two weeks as it approaches… and of course, remember to follow @THONwardState for the latest in Onward State’s comprehensive THON coverage.