Harry Moseley is a bright, bubbly little man with a big heart, he’s 11 years old... and has an inoperable brain tumour. For one so young, he has shown remarkable savvy and business sense, harnessing the power of Twitter and the web to raise more than £500,000 for his charity so far.

Twitter, for all that not everyone sees the point of it, is a powerful tool, both for evil and for good. Much has been made of the role of social media in the recent disastrous riots across the country, so I wanted to bring you a heartwarming story about how Harry has used social media to touch thousands of people and raise more than half a million pounds for his charity, Help Harry Help Others.

As well as promoting his charity events and merchandise, he uses Twitter to drive people to his website and raise awareness of the disease, in the hopes that his story will prompt them to donate. And the adorable cheeky grin mug-shot on the homepage doesn’t hurt either.

Harry’s story started with eye problems in 2007, and he was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumour, unfortunately inoperable as it’s rooted so deep within the brain. His campaign began with a new friend, Robert Harley. Harry and Robert had their radiotherapy together every day for six weeks; when Robert’s condition worsened in 2009, Harry started selling homemade beaded bracelets to raise money for brain cancer research to help his friend get better.

Sadly, Robert died four weeks into the campaign, aged just 55, but Harry carried on. He has more than 22,000 followers on Twitter, counting many high-profile philanthropists as fans, including Duncan Bannatyne, Richard Branson and Stephen Fry. He tweets several times a day (@harry_moseley), with his Mum taking over when he’s too poorly to keep his fans up-to-date. As it happens, he’s having a major op today (Weds 10 August) to relieve pressure on his brain caused by fluid build-up (8 hours and counting at the time of writing), and Twitter seems to have been something of a lifeline for his mother who has been able to keep in touch with the thousands of people all over the world affected by her little boy. It’s amazing how much the support of strangers can mean in a time of trouble.

And a story about a young man dedicating his life to making a difference is such a pleasant contrast to the rioters, some of them no older than him, that are currently causing such chaos that the Birmingham children’s hospital is going into lockdown at 5pm in case of trouble. The knock-on effect of this is that Harry’s extended family have to leave before that time, and can’t be there for him when he comes around.

So, for those who think that Twitter is pointless and purely for telling people about that nice piece of toast you just ate, I thought this was a lovely little story about what it can mean to people and the good it can do when used in the right way.