SOCS 325 Week 1 Group Project: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (GRADED)

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Prepared for: Prepared by: ……….. SOCS 325 Environmental Sociology Figure 1. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. (Christie McLead). #ALS IceBucketChallenge ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the bran & the spinal cold. According to Dr. Lucie Brujin, “There are two different types of ALS, sporadic & familial. Sporadic, which is the most common form of the disease in the U.S., accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all cases. It may affect anyone, anywhere. Familial ALS (FALS) accounts for 5 to 10 percent of all cases in the U.S. Familial ALS means the disease is inherited. In those families, there is a 50% chance each offspring will inherit the gene mutation & may develop the disease”. A campaign to promote awareness of ALS went viral in 2014, using social media as a platform to reach a worldwide audience. This campaign was named the Ice Bucket Challenge with the hashtag #ALSIceBucketChallenge used in multiple social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Snapchat. The main purpose of the Ice Bucket Challenge is to promote awareness of the disease ALS & encourage donations to research. The challenge consists of a person being recorded as a bucket of water & ice is dumped on their head. The person then nominates a minimum of three people to do the same thing, having only a 24-hour time to complete the challenge & donate to the ALS association. This challenge is intended to everyone who is involved in social media, more than 17 million people participated in the challenge worldwide. In the U.S., there were 2.5 million participants who donated $115 million to the ALS association. More than 17 million people posted videos online, including Bill Gates & former president George W. Bush. Over a two-year period, the money raised through the challenge helped fund research & development of treatment drugs. According to Amanda Trejos, a reporter from USA Today, “The Ice Bucket Challenge raised more than $115 million for the ALS Association. About $77 million, or 67%, of the funds were designated to research & another $23 million, or 20%, were given to patient & community services”. ALS affects 30,000 Americans. It is a disease that attacks nerve cells & eventually leads to paralysis. Before the Ice Bucket Challenge was invented, thousands of Americans were not aware of this paralyze disease, or of its effects on patients. The usual life expectancy is three to five years, which is why the Ice Bucket Challenge is so important. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge shows the power of social media to influence cause marketing on a national scale. The Challenge showed how social media can be utilized, directed & managed for a social good. Even if we don’t see another social storm like this again, the Ice Bucket Challenge possesses several important lessons for marketers trying to reverse engineer the secret of the ALS campaign’s remarkable success. I decided to explore this campaign because I was very involved in social media when the Challenge began. At first, it seemed like a fun challenge to watch between friends & celebrities that I followed like Dwayne Johnson, Will Smith, Bill Gates, Eminem & many others. Around the first week after the Challenge began, I was not aware of the purpose of the Challenge, I was only interested in seeing people complete the challenge. As the Challenge became more popular over the time, I decided to do a brief research of the purpose of the challenge & found out that it is a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain & the spinal cord. Eventually, one of my friends decided to challenge me & two other friends on Facebook, & I felt like I had no choice but to accept the challenge. I had a friend record me, I poured the ice water bucket on my head, challenge three other friends & give a donation as well. Prior making a donation, was the moment when I really decided to inform myself where was I really donating & when I found out how many people all around the world suffer from this disease & it felt good to be apart of this amazing campaign that helped scientists discover a net gene tied to ALS with all the donations collected. The ALC Ice Bucket Challenge creates awareness of a disease that thousands of people were not aware off before the Ice Bucket Challenge was introduce. According to Gene Lewis, partner & chief creative officer of Digital Pulp, the secret to the Ice Bucket Challenge’s success is the fact that its call to action is nearly impossible to avoid. “Like so many things that are simple & successful, the Ice Bucket Challenge now seems inevitable; it makes us all wonder why we didn’t think about trying something like it sooner,” he says. “It has the perfect mix of elements to make it viral: it’s fun (and funny), it’s personal & broadly relevant, it’s for kids & adults, it’s intensely shareable, & most critically, it includes a dare. & not just a simple text dare. When you’re challenged, you’re called out, on video, for the world to see. It’s not just a small status update that will soon pass, it’s a personal challenge that must be addressed.” Using hashtags with different social media, allows movements to spread organically to like-minded individuals & organizations & to spread virally to other users of the social media platform. The hashtag classifies messages, improves searchability, & allows the organization to link messages to existing knowledge & action communities. On the other hand, hashtagswill be ignored or hijacked if you do not follow the correct principles, Some hashtags were intended by the creators to invite the positive energy & encourage the people to share their good experiences with the company, The internet trolls can attack the hashtag & push the others to do the complete opposite, sharing their worst experiences & the other complaints for hundreds of others to see. Reference List: ● Saxton, Gregory D., et al. “#AdvocatingForChange: The Strategic Use of Hashtags in Social Media Advocacy.” View of The Use & Value of Mixed Methods Research in Social Work,