The virality of the Ice Bucket Challenge has me thinking about the tremendous and influential role that social media plays in our lives.
I’m a big fan of this campaign, as it combines two of the things I love the most: social media and giving.
It’s been incredible to see how much money and awareness has been raised for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) as a result of this campaign, and I commend everyone who has taken the time to donate and/or post a video to help spread the word.
However, it has been hard for me see the dozens of celebrities and influencers who have hopped on the challenge as a way of following a trend.
I’ve seen countless videos of celebrities dumping buckets of water (with no ice) on their heads without once mentioning ALS as the driving cause behind the social media movement.
It would be nice to see these individuals, who have millions of followers on social media, use the challenge as a way to inform thousands of people about the intent and meaning behind the challenge.
After reading an article in TIME the other day, I decided that if nominated, I would opt out of the challenge and donate money to both ALS and the nonprofit I’m involved with, The Senase Project.
I also decided that I would take the time I would have spent to grab a bag of ice and post the video, and write a blog post instead which encourages people to take part in the challenge not just by posting a video but by donating money to the cause, which you can do here.
Jacob Davidson said it best in the article in TIME:
“I can’t help but feel this challenge could have done so much more good if it were structured differently. Maybe people could dump ice water on friends who haven’t donated as goofy way of encouraging others to give…. In an age where hashtag activism and information-free awareness campaigns are becoming more and more common, we should be very conscious of how to make viral trends as useful as possible. The Ice Bucket Challenge has done a lot of good. Let’s make sure the next one is even better.”
