The NSPCC raised £100,000 in just 48 hours after an un-prompted campaign on Facebook called for users to help the charity stop child abuse.

The 'Change Your Profile Picture to a Cartoon' campaign asked people to do so until 6 December, to show their support for the NSPCC’s work.

The campaign page recruited over 22,000 fans, but the NSPCC said although they were pleased with the outcome of the campaign they did not instigate it.

In addition to the funds raised, the NSPCC’s Facebook page has gained over 50,000 new supporters. Thousands of people have also set up JustGiving fundraising pages.

Paul Amadi, NSPCC director of fundraising said, “The speed, scale and impact of the campaign has been quite astonishing - an avalanche of support and donations from people across the world.”

While the campaign was alive, it sparked debate on Facebook itself over whether supporters should instead engage in active campaigning for the NSPCC rather than what was deemed as passive and cute social networking activism.