Post by kaglass on Oct 2, 2014 20:14:29 GMT -5
The Make A Wish foundation is an organization that has been near and dear to my heart for many years… I lost one of my best friends in elementary school to childhood cancer, and this organization provided the means for her to have an enjoyable celebration of life with her friends and family before her expected death. When I began researching the Make A Wish foundation on social media, a child’s YouTube video struck that chord so often struck by this organization. This is how I decided to analyze MAW’s presence on YouTube specifically.
When you first see the MAW channel, this video is featured. The application itself lends viewers to watch consecutive videos through their playlist feature, and before you knew it I was on my 4th upload by the organization. After watching a few videos, I realized that not only is the event itself important to the organization, but the capturing of it is as well – which I think not only benefits MAW, but also the family who is reliving the experience and the child’s excitement for his or her wish to come true. These children’s stories are told clearly and well, which is helpful for the next point I planned on touching; ease of use.
YouTube is the perfect site to get the word out and convey messages. You’re not limited to 140 characters, certain forms of communication (single source: video, text, sound) but rather all of them at once. Through YouTube videos you can literally immerse your audience in what it is you’re trying to tell them, falling just short of them being in the location with you. Videos tug at heartstrings when you see the child’s face, or hear their shrieks as their favorite hero or place appears within yards of them. The ease of use of YouTube from a viewer’s end really falls within the realms of the ability to make videos “viral” through other social media platforms. With one quick click of the share button, you can easily bring the video from it’s home on YouTube to visit the rest of the social media neighborhood with ease, and even share your thoughts for your subscribers or friends to read.
Miles Scott, who’s wish was to be BatKid, had his story with MAW go viral via YouTube. The video as of now has been viewed over 200,000 times. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw3aWPxtpfE) News stations across the country have reported on it, and this is not only cool for Miles, but is free and amazing publicity for the program itself. Miles, went around San Francisco as BatKid, “saving the day” as Batman would. His wish wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t selfish, and it wasn’t really too awfully hard to pull off, but the dedication and drive of MAW to fulfill his fantasy to the extent he deserved was what really drew people into the story, and the participation soon followed in droves. (abcnews.go.com/US/batkids-make-transformed-san-francisco-gotham/story?id=20899254)
The video wasn’t successful just because of YouTube, but the platform greatly added to the success of the video because of the fact that it is linkable to pretty much any other social media outlet. The interesting thing about this story, though, is the integration of the campaign with other platforms. #SFBatKid was retweeted, instagrammed, reposted, and shared on all social media outlets, and many people donated specifically for this reason, for this child. The MAW foundation differs from other organizations I’ve researched so far for this class, simply because of the way it is set up. People like to see stories unfold, MAW has stories to tell, and YouTube provides the perfect platform for them, in my opinion.
When you first see the MAW channel, this video is featured. The application itself lends viewers to watch consecutive videos through their playlist feature, and before you knew it I was on my 4th upload by the organization. After watching a few videos, I realized that not only is the event itself important to the organization, but the capturing of it is as well – which I think not only benefits MAW, but also the family who is reliving the experience and the child’s excitement for his or her wish to come true. These children’s stories are told clearly and well, which is helpful for the next point I planned on touching; ease of use.
YouTube is the perfect site to get the word out and convey messages. You’re not limited to 140 characters, certain forms of communication (single source: video, text, sound) but rather all of them at once. Through YouTube videos you can literally immerse your audience in what it is you’re trying to tell them, falling just short of them being in the location with you. Videos tug at heartstrings when you see the child’s face, or hear their shrieks as their favorite hero or place appears within yards of them. The ease of use of YouTube from a viewer’s end really falls within the realms of the ability to make videos “viral” through other social media platforms. With one quick click of the share button, you can easily bring the video from it’s home on YouTube to visit the rest of the social media neighborhood with ease, and even share your thoughts for your subscribers or friends to read.
Miles Scott, who’s wish was to be BatKid, had his story with MAW go viral via YouTube. The video as of now has been viewed over 200,000 times. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw3aWPxtpfE) News stations across the country have reported on it, and this is not only cool for Miles, but is free and amazing publicity for the program itself. Miles, went around San Francisco as BatKid, “saving the day” as Batman would. His wish wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t selfish, and it wasn’t really too awfully hard to pull off, but the dedication and drive of MAW to fulfill his fantasy to the extent he deserved was what really drew people into the story, and the participation soon followed in droves. (abcnews.go.com/US/batkids-make-transformed-san-francisco-gotham/story?id=20899254)
The video wasn’t successful just because of YouTube, but the platform greatly added to the success of the video because of the fact that it is linkable to pretty much any other social media outlet. The interesting thing about this story, though, is the integration of the campaign with other platforms. #SFBatKid was retweeted, instagrammed, reposted, and shared on all social media outlets, and many people donated specifically for this reason, for this child. The MAW foundation differs from other organizations I’ve researched so far for this class, simply because of the way it is set up. People like to see stories unfold, MAW has stories to tell, and YouTube provides the perfect platform for them, in my opinion.
