Yesterday I estimated that thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of Facebook users posted a strong message of support for healthcare reform that read something like this:

No one should die because they cannot afford healthcare. No one should go broke because they get sick, and no one should be tied to a job because of pre-existing condition. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

Now, via Facebook, I have gotten some harder statistics. During the course of September 3, there were more than 880,000 status updates on healthcare -- a staggering figure that indicates that strong feelings are not just emerging from within the political community but are also organically growing within the broader grassroots. President Obama posted a message not unlike the one above on his Facebook page, garnering more than 88,000 "likes" (an indication of users liking his statement) and more than 97,000 comments.

Yesterday was a day of action on the internet, with hundreds of thousands of Americans from all walks of life and all age ranges (yes, as folks were quick to point out yesterday, Facebook isn't just for young people!) making their voices heard on the healthcare debate. No one on the website could help but hear the message: Americans want real reform, and they want it now.

There's more...

There is a huge viral movement brewing on Facebook at the moment: Countless young people around the country are pasting the following message (or something close to it) into their status:

No one should die because they cannot afford healthcare. No one should go broke because they get sick, and no one should be tied to a job because of pre-existing condition. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

Watching the trend, which I have yet been unable to quantify (though have put in a question to the folks at Facebook), what amazes me is not only the size of the viral movement (it appears to be in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands) but rather the faces behind it. While the vast majority of the political organizing I see on Facebook tends to come from the same names -- friends working in politics on a full time basis -- what is remarkable here is that these status updates containing a strong and clear message in favor of healthcare reform are coming not only from the political community but also from those whose lives are not immersed in these fights. These are regular young people, all around the country, speaking out in favor of reform. This movement is impressive and surprising, and, at least from this vantage, quite newsworthy.

Update:Not Just Facebook... Twitterers (Tweeters? Twitter users?) getting in on the action, too.

Another update: The WireTap Blog has more.

Final update: Within the last hour, Barack Obama has posted the message on Facebook.

Okay, just one more update:Time.com and HispanicBusiness.com are both on the story, too.

There's more...