The Ice Bucket Challenge: Spreadable, Not Viral
Going viral is considered an achievement for most social media influencers and gurus. It’s ideal to them to think that thousands of people could view a piece of content in a single day. However, Jenkins, Ford, and Green, authors of Spreadable Media, argue that the term “viral media” does not fully capture the essence of the content it describes. Jenkins et al. compare the word viral to the word virus, indicating that it spreads and has negative connotations because the audience has no apparent control over its virality (pg. 17). Instead of viral, the writers suggest using the word “spreadability” to describe such a widespread media phenomenon. Jenkins describes spreadability as “a signal of movement toward a more participatory model of culture, one which sees the public not as simply as consumers…. But people who are shaping, sharing, reframing, and remixing media content in ways which might not have been previously imagined” (pg. 2).
The Ice Bucket Challenge is an example of a viral movement, but the definition of spreadability fits it more accurately. The Ice Bucket Challenge first appeared on social media in 2014. The ultimate goal of the challenge was to raise awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, and encourage donations towards research (alsa.org). This was the usual process of the challenge: the participant goes on camera, states that they are raising money and awareness for ALS, nominates others to participate in the challenge, then has a bucket of ice water dumped on top of his or her head. This simple challenge surprisingly gained a lot of traction and led to a significant increase in donations to ALS research (alsa.org).
Jenkins et al. state, “The viral metaphor does little to describe situations in which people actively access a media text, deciding who to share it with and how to pass it along” (pg. 20). This theory is especially true for the Ice Bucket Challenge. Family members and friends often saw these videos on Facebook of the participant doing the challenge. The observer could decide to share the video due to the novelty of watching a friend have ice water dumped on their head or because the observer also wanted to raise awareness for the cause. The audiences are responsible and play an active role in the circulation of content in the spreadability model (pg. 22). This challenge grew in popularity due to engagement on social media.
However, another essential factor of the Ice Bucket Challenge is the nomination to continue with the challenge. This factor also plays a significant role in the circulation and fits into the category of open-ended participation (pg. 6). Open-ended participation allowed the participants to carry out the challenge creatively, such as in the game Minecraft, at graduations, at weddings, and in several other contexts that allowed the participant to create a personalized experience.
A final thought about the Ice Bucket Challenge and its relation to spreadability is the collaborative aspect. Collaboration was an essential part of the Ice Bucket Challenge’s success. The writers of Spreadable Media describe collaboration in spreadability as “working together to achieve something that the participants could not achieve on their own.” Nominating others, sharing videos of the challenge, and engaging with the participants allowed the Ice Bucket Community to raise a significant amount of awareness and money for ALS research. Without spreadability, the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge would not have been as near as impactful.
Resources:
http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html
Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture
