Has The Ice Bucket Challenge Made a Difference?

I’ve heard it over and over again the last few weeks. My friends and colleagues complaining about the ice bucket challenge clogging up their news feed. I can see their point, but I also like to see something that does so much good continue to spread. Some have even accused the challenge of being pointless. The question is– is it really pointless? Lets have a look at the data

Facebook has come out with a graphic (see fig. 1) showing the epicenter of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is located around Boston. You can see that the majority of the share behavior is located in the northeast United States. This matches with the narrative that Pete Frates is responsible for launching the Ice Bucket Challenge into social media stardom.

Fig. 1 | Image courtesy of Facebook.com

More than 15,000,000 people have discussed the Ice Bucket Challenge on Facebook (see fig. 2) as of the second week of August. This number is surely higher by now (August 29) as the challenge continues to spread to the outer edges of networks.

Fig. 2 | Courtesy of Mashable.com

What does the data show?

The goal of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been to drive awareness and monetary donations towards finding a cure for the disease. There is no question awareness has been raised for the disease. Take a look at these Google Trends surrounding ALS that shows search volume peaked higher for terms associated with the disease rather than the name of the social challenge. This indicates that people are actually seeking out information about the disease and choosing to donate towards ALS research.

The data doesn’t lie. This peer-to-peer viral donation campaign is more than just funny videos. It’s created a real impact and will go a long way towards finding a cure for ALS over the next few years. I’m not sure how anyone can argue that it hasn’t made an impact, especially after looking at the data!