What is Contagious? Exploring why content goes viral on Twitter: A case study of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Abstract

This study employs Berger's STEPPS (social currency, triggers, emotion, practical value, public, and stories) framework for assessing the messaging factors that influence eWOM in the nonprofit sector. Thus, the authors first operationalize the key principles for the nonprofit sector, then examine viral content (1,000 tweets and linked videos) to demonstrate the applicability of these principles for theory building and practice. Our content analysis reveals that some principles (e.g., social currency, triggers, high‐arousal emotion, or public) are more prevalent than other principles (e.g., practical value or story). This study also explores the relationships between the 6 principles and the level of online engagement, revealing interesting results about what people post initially versus what they pass along from others in their network.