--- title: The Ice Bucket Challenge: Social Media's Newest Viral Campaign description: The Ice Bucket Challenge is ironically one of the hottest things on social media as it tries to raise money for ALS charities. canonical: https://time.com/3101414/the-ice-bucket-challenge-takes-over-social-media/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-11T20:54:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:21.925Z article:section: Health og:title: The Ice Bucket Challenge: Social Media's Newest Viral Campaign og:description: The Ice Bucket Challenge is ironically one of the hottest things on social media as it tries to raise money for ALS charities. og:url: https://time.com/3101414/the-ice-bucket-challenge-takes-over-social-media/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta80154c12df5c4bf/69869f13cd804df262ccc4cf/ice-bucket-1280x720.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ice Bucket og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Ice Bucket Challenge: Social Media's Newest Viral Campaign twitter:description: The Ice Bucket Challenge is ironically one of the hottest things on social media as it tries to raise money for ALS charities. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta80154c12df5c4bf/69869f13cd804df262ccc4cf/ice-bucket-1280x720.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Ice Bucket Challenge Takes Over Social Media by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Aug 11, 2014 8:54 PM UTC  David L. Ryan—The Boston Globe/Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Aug 11, 2014 8:54 PM UTC Social media networks have been taken over by the ice bucket challenge, an online effort to raise money for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, charities. ALS, often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a neurodegenerative disease. The challenge entails an individual dumping a bucket of ice water on themselves while recording it, and then posting the video on Facebook while tagging the people they would like to challenge next. Those individuals are then challenged to either do the same or donate $100 to the ALS Association. Notable participants in the challenge include Martha Stewart, _The Fault In Our Stars_ actor Ansel Elgort, and a mass group in the city of Boston. The challenge has been heralded as successful thus far, with [over $1.35 million](http://time.com/3101166/heres-how-much-money-the-als-ice-water-stunt-has-collected/) raised for the ALS Association since the campaign began. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3101414/the-ice-bucket-challenge-takes-over-social-media/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3101414/the-ice-bucket-challenge-takes-over-social-media/"},"headline":"The Ice Bucket Challenge Takes Over Social Media","datePublished":"2014-08-11T20:54:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:21.925Z","description":"Viral campaign has raised over $1.35 million for the ALS Association","url":"https://time.com/3101414/the-ice-bucket-challenge-takes-over-social-media/","keywords":["Fundraising","Newsfeed","Charity","health","Wellness","Lou Gehrig's disease","ALS"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta80154c12df5c4bf/69869f13cd804df262ccc4cf/ice-bucket-1280x720.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta80154c12df5c4bf/69869f13cd804df262ccc4cf/ice-bucket-1280x720.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ice Bucket","caption":"Ice Bucket","creditText":"David L. Ryan—The Boston Globe/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/fundraising/","name":"Fundraising"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3101414/the-ice-bucket-challenge-takes-over-social-media/","name":"The Ice Bucket Challenge Takes Over Social Media"}}]}] ```