“Join the movement.” This is a logo
that stems from the Miracle Network Dance Marathon. Within our culture, there
are so many movements taking place that people become enveloped in and identity
with. I specifically chose to tweet about the Miracle Network Dance Marathon in
an attempt to go viral because I think it is vital that students become aware
of the positive movements they can become involved in to impact the lives of
others. My close friend Lauren, who attends Syracuse University, was
a part of this movement. The main purpose of my tweet was to raise awareness, as
well as to receive donations. I found interesting results after launching and
tracking this tweet over the course of four weeks.
I launched this tweet on September 27, 2016. In
order to spark this movement, I asked my friends from high school, college, and
friends of friends to re-tweet it in order to spread awareness and raise money
for the Miracle Network. My friend Lauren’s goal was to reach $100; I am proud
to say that by tweeting this and attempting to go viral, she has raised a
little over $500.00. While not everyone who re-tweeted my tweet donated, six of
the 35 re-tweeters donated. This is significant because by tweeting something
like this and attempting to go viral, I helped an important cause. In addition
to this, I spread awareness for the Miracle Network. My target audience was
around 20 people since I do not usually receive a lot of re-tweets. Surprisingly,
I surpassed this goal of 20 and received 35 re-tweets. I appreciated the help
of those who reached out to others and re-tweeted my tweet; it demonstrated the
importance of collaboration. It also demonstrated how a movement can quickly
spread via social media.
A challenge I encountered was keeping the tweet
active. At first, many users re-tweeted my tweet, but as time went on, the
re-tweets started to decline. This is a common aspect of social media and pop
culture. It signifies that people will keep up with a trend in the moment, yet,
when the trend dies, people drop it and move on to the next big thing. A
Huffington Post Article, Why Content Goes Viral: What Analyzing 100 Million
Articles Taught Us mentions that, “adding images to your content
and posts will help it get shared on Twitter as well as Facebook.” I find this
to be an interesting aspect of going viral. I attached an image to my tweet,
and because I attached an image, I had a positive outcome. More people re-tweeted
my tweet than the average user. This information is relevant because
pop-culture has adapted to images rather than reading a statement on social
media. As a culture, we have become attracted and interested to the images on
social media.
The article, To
See and Be Seen: Celebrity Practice on Twitter, found in Chapter 33 of the
textbook, exemplifies how tweets result in a “constantly-updated stream of
short messages ranging from the mundane to breaking news, shared links, and thoughts
on life.” This quote is key to understanding how our culture accesses twitter and
gives social media a purpose. My tweet would fall under “shared links” because
the link Lauren provided was copied in my tweet. However, many twitter users
use their social media account to provide their “thoughts on life.” I believe social media’s purpose is to rather
share interest among young individuals through the collaboration I sparked in
my tweet: towards a movement that embraces positivity as well as a realistic
goal. In my opinion, my attempt in going viral was a success. I attracted
friends, and even strangers, to a movement that I wanted to raise awareness to.
In addition to this, those six people who donated to this movement had an
impact on the Miracle Network and helped to give my viral attempt significance.
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