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Cape Town - The Ice Bucket Challenge in support of ALS has generated great excitement on social media, but interest has rapidly evaporated.
The campaign which was in support of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disorder where muscle tissue degenerates electrified social media because of the participation of celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Microsoft chair Bill Gates.
However, despite the peak number of tweets on ALS at 600 000 on 23 August, the missives have declined sharply by early September to levels where they were before the craze began.
For comparison, tweets on Justin Bieber average at around 600 000 and peaked at over 800 000 on tracker Topsy.com when reports emerged that he had performed the challenge - twice.
During August, ALS mentions on Twitter hit 6.2 million, while Justin Bieber garnered 12.8 million mentions. For comparison, the war in Syria was mentioned 957 000 times.
Shifting sentiment
The decline in social media enthusiasm mirrors the pattern when South African icon Nelson Mandela died.
Tweets peaked at six million on 5 December and fell to only 328 000 during his funeral ceremony.
While platforms like Twitter and Facebook are platforms for social expression, it is worth noting that the medium does not hold people's interest for very long.
A Pew research study in 2013 found that sentiment on social media can shift quickly. In the US, Twitter sentiment on same sex marriage shifted from 55% negative to 43% positive in a period of just one month.
The research noted that social media sentiment may match public opinion, but it was not a reliable indicator.
Watch actor Verne Troyer perform the Ice Bucket Challenge with milk:
In South Africa, regardless of huge public sentiment against e-tolls, as well as political opposition, the programme was nevertheless rolled out.
Despite this, SA has seen a rush to social media use, particularly in the run-up to the elections in May.
Criticism
The Democratic Alliance in particular was an early adopter, but elections results did not necessarily reflect the following on social platforms.
The ANC won 62.1% of the vote, followed by the DA at 22.2%.
Still, social media platforms have encouraged debate.
"In previous election periods, where social media wasn't as prolific, there was still active debate on mainstream media - radio, newspapers, television. But social media broadens the debate - where any citizen with a phone can have an opinion," social media consultant for Afrosocialmedia Samantha Fleming told Fin24.
Despite the media attention and money raised for ALS gained by the ice bucket challenge, some have criticised the hype.
According to the ALS Association, the disease kills two per 100 000 population in the US, but the lack of water leads to 3.4 million deaths annually - most of those in the developing world.
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