Reflection #3

Social media is proving to be an extremely beneficial way to raise awareness to create a movement for benefit of a given cause. By using these social media platforms traction can pick up almost instantaneously become a viral movement by gaining traction from these platforms. The ALS ice bucket challenge was one of these viral movements that became a nationwide phenomenon raising awareness and donations to the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This challenge went viral on Facebook, as celebrities, kids, parents, and everyone in-between participated by dumping a bucket of ice water on top of their head. This movement became uber-successful, “12 months prior to the challenge (July 2013 to June 2014), the ALS Association received 6,819 media mentions, and the disease itself was covered 64,056 times. For the second half of 2014, the Association received a staggering 37,205 mentions, so in the short term, the challenge clearly made an impact.” (Vance 2016)

The simplicity of the challenge lies within getting a bucket, cooler, anything that is able to hold water, fill it up with ice and cold water. This allows for anyone of any age the ability to participate, “then there’s trendjacking, which we typically associate with an ephemeral and often opportunistic spike in coverage. Unlike trying to cash in on a story, the ALS Association was able to maintain its connection to the ice bucket challenge, and shape the general message around the disease.” (Vance 2016) This creative fun way of raising awareness was able to stick and gain an undeniable massive following. Not only participation flood Facebook feeds, but donations flooded in as donations increased, the viral challenged was able to raise a staggering $115 million dollars.

When posting a video of you participating in this social media challenge users would often nominate 3 of their friends to also participate. By doing so you are aiding in the spreading of the challenge which in turn branches out to more and more users. The overall tree of the challenge was able to rapidly increase as its main platform of Facebook caught many others attention within the site. “Social networking sites are applications that enable users to connect by creating personal information profiles, inviting friends and colleagues to have access to those profiles, and sending e-mails and instant messages between each other. These personal profiles can include any type of information, including photos, video, audio files, and blogs.” (Kaplan) As the challenge gained traction many celebrities were able to be advocates for the cause as their platform is much larger than your average Facebook user. For example Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has a following of more than 50 million followers which were able to see his video participating in the challenge which hits a larger audience causing more entries of persons own video. The challenge was for a great cause and able to raise amazing awareness as Johnson was one of many other famous celebrities to participate in the challenge which helped make it a viral video movement as the traction was extremely successful. 

Vance, Johnny. "Social Media and PR: Insights from the Ice Bucket Challenge on Creating Lasting Impact — Meltwater." Meltwater. N.p., 2 Aug. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Kaplan, Andreas M., “Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media,” Business Horizons (2010) 53, 59-68