The videos filled your Facebook and Twitter feeds for weeks. Everyone from your great aunt to your favorite actor to politicians jumped on the bandwagon and doused themselves with ice-cold water all in the name of charity.
Whether you love it, hate it or experienced the challenge’s chill firsthand, it’s official: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, in all its cold, wet glory, is a bona fide social media success. But it’s far from the first online marketing campaign to go viral. Here are five social media campaigns — and what you need to know about them — that have made a substantial impact on an organization’s efforts to raise awareness or funds for its cause.
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Did we miss one that stood out to you? Let us know in the comments!
Tag: Boston Marathon
The World’s Most Difficult Job and 4 Other Videos That Inspired Us This Month
You can not take any breaks, you are constantly on your feet and during the holidays your workload doubles. Watch an interview for the world’s most difficult job and four other videos that inspired us this month
These Survivors Give New Meaning to Reaching the Finish Line
On April 15, 2013, an act of terror at the Boston Marathon claimed the lives of three people, injured 260 more, and locked down an entire city with the ensuing manhunt. But it’s in times of tragedy that the human spirit shines through: People ran towards the explosion to offer help. And now, one year later, survivors who lost limbs are not only back on their feet, but even dancing.
In a moving photo and video project called Dear World, photographer Robert X. Fogarty captures the resilience and strength of Boston marathon survivors and first responders a year removed from the tragedy. “What happened that day was terror. Terror happens when love is absent. Boston is a city of love stories now. Thank you for sharing yours here,” Fogarty writes to the survivors. “As you heal, know you inspire the rest of us to be better, still.”
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MORE: Hundreds Trek the Boston Marathon Route to Raise Suicide Awareness
Roseann Sdoia, who lost a leg, writes for the project: “We have deformities to our bodies, but I think it makes us stronger to be so open with it. I think it’s part of our therapy to get through what happened to us. I feel like it was supposed to happen. I feel like my life was supposed to change. I don’t know if it’s to help others, but I feel like there was a reason for it. It happened to help bring some sort of awareness to disabilities or amputations. You definitely look at the world differently.”
The Dear World team also released the moving clip below featuring survivor and double amputee Celeste Corcoran, who returned to the finish line for the first time since the tragic day. “I had never been back, and it was about reclaiming [it]. That finish line has been a negative space since the marathon,” said Celeste, who along with her daughter Sydney, was injured last year. “This was about reclaiming that space in a positive way. I chose to be there. I took back control. I chose to do this.”
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As the Chicago Tribune reports, 36,000 runners have registered for this year’s marathon, 9,000 more than last year’s total. The newspaper writes that the number also includes runners who weren’t able to cross the finish line last year but are racing again in solidarity with the city.