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The Norseman

The Norseman

The Norseman

Trends melt as need remains

Many people pride themselves on being socially conscious, but as a whole social consciousness seems to be fleeting based on observing past examples.

It seems like the majority of the nation will get behind a common cause, but the cause can be lost in the absurdity of the trend.

Look at KONY 2012. It exploded across social media and even benefited from monetary donations, only to fall flat within less than a month.

More recently, the ALS Icebucket Challenge swept through the B/CS community as Facebook timelines and twitter feeds were flooded with person after person being doused with ice and water.

Everyone, from the superintendent to the principal to even our own staff members, participated in this challenge as did countless others in our community, but then it was over as quickly as it began.

The combination of social media, a fun challenge, and a good cause were the perfect recipe to go viral, but what happens when it’s over?

The ALS challenge gained national attention across television networks and increased funding for ALS from $1.9 million in a month period of time to $31.5 million. The official ALS web page has even added the Ice Bucket Challenge information to their home page, so it seems to have worked.

With all the good that came out of the challenge, the questions that come up include: Are people now aware of what ALS is? Will the interest and money continue to grow now that the frenzy has died down? and What will be the next thing to go viral?

Social media is no longer considered “new” but new ways of using it are continuing to expand.

With that being said, participate in trends and have fun, but take the time to research what the cause is and help out in other ways than just posting videos to social media.

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