If you still check Facebook on a regular basis, your newsfeed has probably been overrun with videos of people participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to benefit research into a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's Disease. Add to the list of celebrities and top executives taking on the challenge Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two got dunked in front of a large crowd of spectators in response to a challenge from Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, issued to Larry Page.
Per the challenge's “rules” once someone gets dunked under a bucket of ice water, they then issue a challenge to someone else to do the same. The person thus challenged has 24 hours to get dunked themselves or they are supposed to donate money to The ALS Association, though there is no reason people could not do both.
As of this morning, The ALS Association reports they have received $9.5 million in donations compared to $1.6 million received for the same time period last year, July 29th through August 15th. They also report donations have come in from 184,812 new donors to go with existing donors. No doubt the Ice Bucket Challenge will be studied, and probably copied in some form, as an example of how viral social media movements happen.
You can check out the video of Brin and Page getting iced below. I have not yet been able to find who they may have challenged next. If you know, pass it on via the comments.
source: The ALS Association
via: The Verge
