How one viral trend created the internet as we know it
Engineered to go viral
If you were online in 2014, you couldn't avoid the Ice Bucket Challenge starting that summer. Videos of the ice water dousings took off on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Vine, the now dead short-video app. But the challenge really went big on Facebook's news feed.
That wasn't entirely an out-of-the-blue happenstance. The company now called Meta helped engineer the Ice Bucket Challenge to go viral to fuel Facebook's makeover – from a place where you mostly shared text posts and photos with your personal connections into a hot spot for general video entertainment and discussing hot topics.
Months before the Ice Bucket Challenge took off, Facebook had started to automatically play videos as you scrolled through the news feed. (That doesn't seem unusual now because every app and website does it.)
The auto-play feature helped make videos hard to ignore as you scrolled Facebook, as part of the company's campaign to get big in online video. That strategy helped Ice Bucket Challenge videos explode in popularity.
The company had also recently debuted hashtags and 'trending' topic lists to nudge you to use Facebook to share news, gab about celebrities and TV shows and generally get a sense of what was happening in the moment. That was all a strategy in Facebook's then-fierce rivalry with Twitter.
The virality of the Ice Bucket Challenge proved that you would post, watch and share videos on Facebook by the billions. It showed that Facebook could be a destination to see what people around you were chatting about, even if you had no personal connection to them.
And that's what Facebook is today: another online gathering place where you don't need friends at all. In the legal case to decide whether Meta is an illegal monopoly, the company said this month that only 17% of time we spend on Facebook, and 7% of time on Instagram, is with friends' posts.
(It's not clear how Meta measures these statistics, which support the company's legal defence.)
The role of the Ice Bucket Challenge in the makeover of Facebook and Instagram is a perfect example of how the online world as it exists today didn't just happen because it's what you like. It's also the result of deliberate decisions to suit the business prerogatives of a handful of powerful people like Zuckerberg.
'To this day, many people my age and younger have no idea that this was at all pushed by Facebook,' said Steffi Cao, a 26-year-old internet culture writer who has assessed the lasting influence of online events from 2014, including the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Viral moments come at you so fast now
Online influencers and viral moments didn't originate with the Ice Bucket Challenge. But Debra Aho Williamson, who was a veteran social media analyst at the time, said the popular videos with big names proved the power of online virality to companies with products to sell and to the rest of us.
Williamson, who now runs the consumer AI and marketing advisory firm Sonata Insights, said it also seems quaint by 2025 standards that the Ice Bucket Challenge was so widely popular for many months online.
Now there are viral online moments constantly – like those AI-generated action figurines or last summer's ' very demure, very mindful ' TikTok trend – while 'there are probably hundreds of other mini-trends that never take off' or are quickly forgotten, she said.
So the next time you watch a stranger's video on Instagram, know that the Ice Bucket Challenge is one factor that helped remake social media into algorithmically programmed TV. When you watch your favourite travel channel on YouTube or buy a product you saw on TikTok, know that those icy videos from 2014 helped shape your experiences.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
11 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Varsha Anjali: Sabrina Carpenter is making women furious. Why are we afraid of sexual women?
Sabrina Carpenter's 'Man's Best Friend' album cover. Photo / Instagram THE FACTS Sabrina Carpenter is sexy. She's also a woman. She's a sexy woman. So far, so heteronormative. But can she be a sexual woman? The answer, apparently, is 'no'. On June 12, the 26-year-old pop star revealed the cover of her new album, Man's Best Friend.
Scoop
2 days ago
- Scoop
How Current Affairs Podcasts Are Filling The Cracks In Mainstream News Reporting
According to the Pew Research Center, more than half of Americans used social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and X as news sources in 2024 despite the reported proliferation of misinformation and voter manipulation on these online sites. Meanwhile, another 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that 63 percent of American teenagers got their news from TikTok. The study also stated that in four years, the percentage of adults who regularly turned to TikTok for news increased by five times. 'With its short-form video content, TikTok provides the ideal platform for both misinformation and disinformation to pass as credible, in part because content creators' popularity may be misinterpreted as expertise, even where it doesn't exist,' a 2023 blog from Capital Technology University's website stated. In a 2024 article that documented waning public interest in cable news outlets like CNN and MSNBC, the libertarian magazine Reason noted that podcasts 'have gone the opposite direction' from short-form information blasts on platforms like TikTok and YouTube by offering 'lengthy, discursive interviews that let subjects speak uninterrupted for minutes at a time and conversations that flow more naturally—a near-impossibility in the tightly paced, commercial-bounded programming blocks of cable news programming.' Podcasts are increasingly becoming popular among Americans, with 'Comedy, entertainment, and politics… [being] at the top of the list of topics that podcast listeners say they regularly listen to,' according to a 2023 report by the Pew Research Center. The report further points out that those who turn to podcasts for news see them as more trusted sources than other platforms. 'You can't get into a topic and cover it in five minutes,' notes Deborah 'Arnie' Arnesen, the host of the public affairs podcast 'The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen.' She observes that podcasts allow deeper dives in a single episode and enable reporters to devote multiple episodes to one issue. 'Some things need to be repeated, looked at from different angles, and have different voices describing the same topic, because with each voice, you learn something more,' she says. 'It's that liberation, easy availability, and the license to drill down and realise that I can't just talk about this once and move on to a different topic, because this topic is like a hydra. It has so many heads. I think that is what is so exciting about [podcasts]: There are no parameters to what you do. The only parameters are whether people listen.' Public affairs podcasts like 'Worldly,' 'Intercepted,' and 'The Rest Is Politics' often explore single topics across numerous episodes, while 'The Daily,' 'Today in Focus,' and 'Today, Explained' do this more occasionally, concentrating mainly on the important news of the day. 'The Rest Is Politics' 'looks to debate in a civilised way, creating a bridge between the 'political divide' of [Britain's] Labour and Conservative [parties] so that meaningful conversations can be had about events of the week,' according to a 2022 article in the Oxford University newspaper, the Oxford Blue. Arnesen, whom New Hampshire Business Review in 2003 called 'a female liberal gadfly in a field dominated by such conservative male voices as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Michael Savage,' notes that current affairs podcasts can help listeners of differing political ideologies see eye to eye. For example, she says, 'No one is going to escape [Donald Trump's] chaos, his hurt, and the economic implosion [that his administration causes]. If someone isn't always politically aligned with you, but their hurt is the same, you can say, 'You should listen to this [podcast or radio show]. It might help you to understand why your family or community is suffering, why that job hasn't shown up, [or] why you can't access your social security.'' In contrast to left-leaning podcasts like 'Democracy Now!,' 'Pod Save America,' and 'The Ezra Klein Show,' programs like 'Left, Right & Center' and 'Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar' present both left- and right-wing perspectives on public affairs. Arnesen feels that being exposed to diverse perspectives can help make us less 'cemented into our silos. I replaced Rush Limbaugh on five radio stations many, many years ago. You know what I learned from Rush? He never lied. He just cherry-picked and left out critical facts. I would say to my audience, 'Understand that's another reason for you to listen to [divergent viewpoints]. We all put everything through our lens, and our lens will only look at certain things. That doesn't mean we're lying to you, but it means that we might be missing something because we didn't look to the left or the right.'' She adds that podcasts complement traditional news outlets rather than replace them. 'This is synergistic,' she says. 'I just want to make sure you hear different voices coming from a different range of perspectives, because you never know when it will hit.' Arnesen describes podcasts as 'the interstices between the cracks. I see the mainstream media as bricks in a wall, but bricks can't be held together without cement. In a lot of ways, podcasts are that cement. They are what ultimately will hold us together because they're more liberated, can take more time, and can invest in what we need to know. The bricks can't, but [podcasts] can.' Author Bio: Damon Orion is a writer, journalist, musician, artist, and teacher in Santa Cruz, California. His work has appeared in Revolver, Guitar World, Spirituality + Health, Classic Rock, and other publications. Read more of his work at
Scoop
2 days ago
- Scoop
Season 2 Of Māori Kids' Web Series 'Te NGz' Goes Live On June 18, 2025
' Te NGz ' are young sisters that live on their family farm in the Far North of Aotearoa. On their web series, they speak te reo Māori (with subtitles) and tackle their chores as they brainstorm and unite to solve dilemmas and overcome the various challenges that they face. Season 2 of their award-winning show is set to be released online on Facebook and YouTube on June 18, 2025. Ngātaitangirua (15) and Ngāwhakamoemiti (12) are back again for more sibling challenges and whānau problem solving. The sisters bring the camera into their lives to give us a glimpse of their world. Ngātai says, "we're back now and we are a little bit older and wiser." As the tuakana (older sister), Ngātai is often called upon to lead the interactions. "I love my teina (little sister) but she can be a bit annoying at times. But I'm also grateful she is open and willing to help me when we need to work together and do tough jobs." The girls' father is Quinton Hita, known for his work on Mai Time, Shortland Street and Nā Wai I Teka. Lovingly known as Papa Q, a passionate mātanga reo (language expert) especially with te reo o Te Tai Tokerau (the northern dialect), he can be seen helping his daughters when they encounter problems that require his guidance. "My children have been truly blessed to grow up on their papakāinga/ancestral home. Being in the country they have had to learn to be resourceful, and find solutions for themselves. This is helping them stand proud in today's world, within their Māori culture and language, as well as opening up ways to explore their own unique personalities so they can grow to be their true selves. For others who share similar dreams for their children, we hope Te NGz can encourage and support them." Te NGz Season 2 will be available on the 'Māori Minute' Facebook page and the Kura Productions' YouTube channel. 12 x 12 minutes episodes will be released weekly from June 18, 2025. Season 1 is currently available on Facebook and YouTube.
