Pen, Pineapple, Apple ... what?
Pen, Pineapple, Apple ... what?
Viral trends have been going around for a few years now and are totally sweeping the digital space!
From ALS Ice Bucket to the Mannequin Challenge, and also to something much more physical such as Planking, Dabbing and The-Floor-Is-Lava, these viral trends just keep on evolving and sometimes it doesn’t seem to make sense! These trends tend to come and go and most of them usually last for a few weeks, while some becomes a permanent online entertainment.
There are three different perspectives that we can take a look at, here on social media trends.
Let’s take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for example which has garnered over more than 100 million USD donations for the ALS Association. It became a worldwide phenomenon of people dumping a bucket of ice on themselves and donating money to the cause. Famous celebrities, socialites and political leaders participated in the challenge as well, which could be the reason why it went worldwide. The fact that this challenge had a clear important message behind it, accessible and easy to get involved in and presented with humour and levity, it was a definite viral success for the campaign.
However, not every campaign can achieve the success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge as it is not an exact science. You can’t really know if your well-organised campaign could reach a broader audience to get that kind of virality. It is advisable for campaigners to be more realistic when selecting a target audience which would bring even more success than trying to win the hearts of everyone.
