The Navigoe Blog

The making of a viral trend: #IceBucketChallenge

Surely by now, you’re aware of (or tired of) a trend that has been the very definition of going viral. That, of course, is the Ice Bucket Challenge. Here’s how it works: participants a dump bucket of ice water over their heads (often with the help of kids, friends or a spouse), share the video on Facebook and other social media and challenge friends, co-workers or celebrities to do the same. The challenge is designed to build awareness of, and raise funds for ALS, commonly known as Lou Gherig’s disease.
And to say that it has been effective would be like saying Lou Gherig was a pretty good baseball player. Viral trends have come and gone (Harlem Shake, planking…), but none before have so quickly and thoroughly captured the attention of the internet using public. Professional athletes, celebrities and even former President George W. Bush are among the participants. More important, the challenge has raised awareness of the disease and efforts to assist those afflicted. Plus, it has been a fundraising grand slam!  As of August 24, 2014, the ALS Association reports $70.2 million in donations compared to $2.5 million during the same period last year. Including contributions from 1.3 million new donors. That’s a lot of cold, wet checks!

[Tweet “To say #IceBucketChallenge was effective is like saying Lou Gherig was a pretty good at baseball”]

In the scale of viral trends, the Ice Bucket Challenge has reached pandemic status. Why has the Ice Bucket Challenge generated such unprecedented buzz and mass participation?

For insight into the answer, I looked to the book Contagious: Why things catch on, by Wharton Marketing professor, Jonah Berger. In the book, Berger shares the secret science of what makes online content go viral. He shares the six key principles behind any viral movement: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories. All six need not be present, but together they tell the story of viral content.  In the case of the Ice Bucket Challenge, I believe that the main drivers are Social Currency and Public sharing.

 

Social Currency: We share things that make us look good

Ultimately, the ice bucket challenge has raised a tremendous amount of awareness and money for the battle against ALS. An accomplishment that may appear to be a triumph of altruism and charitable intent. Of course, altruism and charity happens every day, all around the world. But it never rises to this level of viral awareness and participation. The main reason?  Social currency. There are three key elements of social currency that are clearly present here.

Does participation and sharing make you look good?

Oprah has done it. So has Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Kimmel, not to mention Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg and Jeff Bezos. Also athletes LeBron, Kobe, Derek Jeter, and David Beckham. They’re famous and successful. They did it. Participating in the same challenge as celebrities and business leaders boosts social capital simply by association.  We feel, even if just for a moment that we have a connection to the famous participants.

Plus, there’s the basic “show off” factor. Facebook, after all, is a place for most people to show off photos of their cute kids or pets, vacation, or gourmet dinner. The Ice Bucket Challenge presents an opportunity to show off in a number of ways including who nominated you and whom you nominate. How you perform or produce your video can show off your originality, such as Patrick Stewart’s gem and Bill Gates’ overproduced but amusingly nerdy take.

Inner Remarkability

Berger explains, “remarkable things provide social currency because they make the people who talk about them seem, well, more remarkable. Some people like to be the life of the party, but no one wants to be the death of it.”

The Ice Bucket Challenge certainly has elements of remarkability. It is unusual and worthy of attention. Participation doesn’t make you the life of the party, but declining the challenge certainly feels like you are, in some way, the death of it. If you manage to produce a unique or interesting video, your challenge is more likely to be remarked upon by Facebook friends.

Make people feel like insiders

The very nature of the Ice Bucket Challenge is built around making participants feel like insiders. You don’t participate in the challenge until you have been nominated by someone else (like a not so secret club). Upon completion, you nominate three more people, effectively inviting them to become insiders. It’s the old Faberge Organics shampoo commercial, “if they told two friends, and they told two friends…”

Think about this: if a bunch of high profile celebrities on TV performed the challenge, in the fashion of an old telethon, and looked into the camera and said, “okay viewer, you’re next!” it would not be as effective.  How are you an insider when millions of other people just saw the same thing? The Ice Bucket Challenge makes people feel like insiders because they are nominated by people they know and called out by name.  Not to mention getting tagged on Facebook.

Of course, if everyone who was nominated chose to participate and followed the rules of doing so within 24 hours and nominating three people, who then also followed the rules (and so on…), everyone in the world would have participated in just 35 days.  Hardly makes anyone an insider. The point isn’t to actually make anyone an insider, but to make people feel like they are.

Public: Can we see when others are engaged or participating?

Making the private public

As Berger notes in his book, “as with many causes, whether you support a particular cancer fund is typically a private matter.”  In a fundraising effort that went viral (although to a much lesser extent than the Ice Bucket Challenge), the Movember Foundation asked men to pledge to raise awareness and money by growing mustaches. The mustaches became a public proclamation of support.

The Ice Bucket Challenge is built on the same principal, but supercharged. By asking participants to post a video of their challenge and post it to social media channels, it ensures that it is seen by large numbers of that participants online friends and followers.