Icey Awareness
A Little Awareness goes viral overnight!
Have you ever wondered what the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is? Well you are not alone. I
myself didn't know anything about it round about the time of this
whole craze.
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| ice bucket challengers |
I, like most people had to a bit of research about
what it is and I was amazed to find that people were dumping iced water on
their heads to raise not only money but awareness on the ALS disease.
For those
of you who don’t know what it is, I’ll tell you.
ALS is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, often referred to Lou Gehrig's disease. It is a
neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal
cord.
And We Have Lift-off
You probably wondering how the Ice Bucket Challenge got
to go viral, well that’s all thanks to social media. How Social media played a big role in getting the challenge to go viral, was
getting you and me the average ‘Joe’ on the street to post a video of you
dumping the water onto your head.
The cool thing about it was that people got
to nominated their friends and families to do the challenge and they had a 24
hour period to get it done. And that’s why it went viral as well. For those of
you who don’t want to get your hair wet, you can donate money to any ALS
charity.
South Africa jumps on the bandwagon
We all know that Springbok legend Joost van der Westhuizen,
suffers from ALS, (well most South Africans) so it was a great idea when South
Africa also got in on the action.
To be totally honest I didn’t even know South
Africans were doing the challenge. I also feel South Africa needs to up its
social media campaigns. Sometimes I think most South Africans don’t really care
much for social media like I do.
And I encourage the people of South Africa to
start really start using their social media networks, because it is the most
powerful tool out there and most importantly it’s fun!
And The Rules Are!
If you want to partake in this craze, all you have to do is to follow
these simple rules
- Have a video of yourself dumping a bucket of ice water on your head.
- Post the video to a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
- Challenge friends to do the same within 24 hours
Or if you would rather just donate whatever you
can to an ALS/ charity that would be perfectly fine. But if you want, you could
do both. One of the charities you could donate to is Joost’s J9Foundation.
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| Lego ice bucket challenge |
It was a nice and fun to get donations for a good cause. The ice bucket challenge was very popular overseas and the celebrities participating did donate money. I honestly don't understand how it worked in South Africa. A lot celebrities jumped on the band wagon but did they really make donations towards the cause or was it just for fun, or a way to get publicity?
ReplyDeleteI feel that this challenge was a good one, because now people know more about the disease. I didn't even know people were doing it here in S.A. And I feel those who did do it, just done it so they could be apart of the whole 'ice bucket" thing
DeleteThe campaign was a great way to not only improve the awareness but to show that social media is taking over. Had it not been for social media I doubt very much that the campaign would have gone as viral as it did. I do agree with Mashudu when she says some people did it just for fun but it did raise awareness so everyone won in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, when you saying that, if it wasn't for social media, the whole campaign would have been none existent. That's why I love social media, you can always make something big out of nothing.
DeleteI think the challenge did very well in the States, in SA only a few celebrities took part and it makes me wonder if social media campaigns are that effective in our country?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that social media campaigns are really that effective here in our country as it is in the States.
DeleteI think the challenge was an idea that was not thought thorough because it resulted in a lot of water being wasted and for nothing because in SA most people did not even make their donations, they were doing it for the fun that it brought along.
ReplyDeleteI think it was thought through because it went viral. Its just that here in SA, we do things because the rest of the world is doing it. And then it fails because not everyone is interested or they don't know why they doing it
ReplyDeleteThe ice bucket challenge was a great success overseas,but here in south africa i doubt it because people were doing it for the wrong reasons for example just for a publicity stunt to become famous or wish to become famous....
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know South Africa was doing the challenge, just comes to show how weak South Africa's social media "power" truly is. And you are right, if South African's were doing it just because it was a trend
DeleteWell I feel as though they could have come up with something less dangerous. It went viral because that is the power Web 2.0 has and the amount of people access the Internet and use social media. Most people did this not only because they were nominated but because it made them cool and have a sense of belonging to some challenge everybody even celebrities are part of.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly do you mean it was dangerous? And if people were doing this challenge just because it made them look 'cool', well then they were doing it for the wrong reasons. I personally would've love to do this challenge.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the ice bucket challenge was the perfect way to market the ALS disease because it was a fun interactive way for individuals from all aspects of life to participate and to learn more about the disease and the initiative.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. This challenge was a good way to let people know more about this disease and kinda let them be able to feel what these people suffering from the disease feels
DeleteI believe the Ice Bucket Challenge was one of the most greatest campaigns ever . People donating to a worthy cause warms my heart . Even though if you did not donate money you did it for awareness.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100% Anti. It was a great way to incorporate social media with and amazing campaign like this
DeleteI believe that a lot of mistook the entire idea of this campaign. Yes donations were made and envy those people, but some people did the challenge out of curiosity.
ReplyDeleteI kind of agree with you, saying some done the challenge out of curiosity. But I do think some people really took the whole ALS thing onto consideration. I mean do you know why people chose icy water over anything else, I mean they could've chosen buckets of warm water. And they raised some what over $60 million.
Deletehave to say i did not get the ice bucket challenge, even though i have seen it trend on social media... thank you for such a good informative blog! i feel i will do this ice bucket challenge.
ReplyDeletebut on the real now,'' lets say i am from the rural areas and i suffer the same disease... what awareness is being done there? how can you get people without social media to take part? or is it only for the fortunate?
Of course its not only for the fortunate. Thanks to the success of this campaign. Many people are aware of this disease and are willing to help where they can and all the donations received helped. So let's say someone who works at an ALS charity and that charity got lots of donations, that money can help someone in the rural area who is suffering from the disease.
DeleteAnd even if it weren't for this campaign many people in rural areas would've still gotten help from ALS charities.