How a semicolon or a bucket of cold water can change a life
The debate on whether or not social media campaigns are truly effective and characteristics that made some of the biggest campaigns memorable.
If you’ve dumped a bucket of cold water on you or ever wore a LiveStrong bracelet, you have participated in a social media campaign. There are many critiques of these social media campaigns, but when done correctly, they can engage a lot of people and be successful. Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, for example. It’s memorable. If you’ve done it, you can remember the feeling you had leading up to the moment you dumped the water on you or the moment when you’re soaking wet and want so badly to dry off. That’s an experience you will never forget, which is an engagement feature of that particular campaign that makes it successful.
The Semicolon Project is more targeted and personalized than some others. It focuses on those who have suffered or are suffering from a mental illness, suicide, addiction, and self injury. It relates personal stories of how someone decided not to end their life and continue fighting and overcoming their obstacles.
So are these social media campaigns successful? There are those that say they do and those that say they don't, but it is common to see the different characteristics that make a good social media campaign. These critical engagement features of campaigns are what keep people sharing and participating in the awareness of such causes.
Celebrities have helped to expand these campaigns. Take Seth Rogen and Hilarity for Charity, for example. Seth has used his status to testify in front of Congress and raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease. Hilarity for Charity holds music and comedy shows with a handful of talented and famous celebrities to advocate for the disease, one event of which was James Franco’s Bar Mitzvah, raising 2.5 million dollars. College students are encouraged to join in, with incentives of a viewing of a movie with Rogen making a guest appearance.
I would most certainly say these social media campaigns work to raise awareness and to get donations for a cause. It’s hard to say if it’s just a fad, though. Hilarity for Charity is something that has happened for several years, and continues to be a huge success. I hope to see the Ice Bucket Challenge and all the other campaigns make their rounds on the internet again in the future. One thing is for certain, these social media campaigns may go away, but the diseases or causes they are fighting for never do, and that’s the one thing we should all remember.
