Comic Relief gets a digital push

Stephen Fry is one of many celebrities joining the digital campaign

Efforts for this year's Red Nose Day are moving online as charities increasingly harness the power of the web to raise money.

Social network users can buy virtual red noses with high profile Twitterers such as Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross already wearing theirs.

Comic Relief has launched pages on social networks, including Bebo, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter.

Updates on these pages will be made throughout the TV show on 13 March.

The BBC's technology correspondent and celebrated Twitterer Rory Cellan-Jones will be scouring TV Centre for celebrities, taking pictures on his iPhone and posting them on Twitter for users to guess their identities and donate money to the charity.

"When Comic Relief first started on BBC One years ago, television was the most effective way of engaging and mobilising people around the country," said Chris Ward, creative director for Comic Relief.

"Now in the multi-platform age not everyone is going to be sat watching TV at 7pm. This is about engaging a range of audiences," he said.

Already the digital campaign has seen a 100% increase in traffic to the Red Nose homepage and 40,000 have so far logged on to Facebook's bespoke page.

Comic Relief launched on Christmas Day in 1985 in order to raise money to support the victims of a famine in Ethiopia.