Photo: ABC News

If you thought that Facebook is just a waste of your precious time and no one really benefits from the social networking site, then Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement may just change your mind.

Connecting organ donors with recipients

In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, Zuckerberg and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg  discussed how the a new Facebook tool could actually save lives.

Finding organ donors is not easy even for the wealthy, because if you can’t find a match, not even money can save your life.  Talking to his med-student girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, mostly about Facebook and the kids she deals with who are getting sicker because they need a new organ but can’t find a match, Zuckerberg came up with a great plan to leverage the power of Facebook eliminate the problem of finding organ donors.

“Facebook is really about communicating and telling stories… We think that people can really help spread awareness of organ donation and that they want to participate in this to their friends. And that can be a big part of helping solve the crisis that’s out there,” Zuckerberg told ABC’s Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview at the company’s headquarters.

According to Donate Life America, a nonprofit organization which partnered up with Facebook, more than 112,000 Americans are awaiting organs, and 18 people die every day from the lack of available organs.  Starting today, Facebookers in the U.S. and U.K. will be able to add that they’re organ donors to their Timelines.  If users aren’t registered organ donors but they want to be, they can find links to official organ donation registries and instantly enroll.

“We want to make it simple,” said Zuckerberg. “You just put in the state or country that you’re from, so that we can help link you to the official registries.”

Zuckerberg even stated that the late Steve Jobs was an inspiration in this new Facebook effort as Jobs himself  had an organ transplant, which extended his life.

“That definitely, I think, was something that we all had in mind as we were building this out… His story is just one of many, of people who both were able to have an organ transplant that made his life longer and he was extremely thankful for that,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg is continuously amazed by the power of Facebook, noting how it helped find people after major disasters or generating funds for people who are in need.

“People are using the same social tools that they’re using just to keep in touch with people on a day-to-day basis to solve these important issues,” he said.