In order to use social media to promote your advocacy, online activists need to know the effects of social media on activism. The first effect of communication is that public engagement is necessary. Many of the issues that have gone viral, like the ALS ice bucket challenge, have attracted audiences in one way or another. Fans would do something and challenge their friends to do it too. In doing so, it was about raising awareness and collecting donations. According to an article about the ice bucket challenge, it's about playing off of what you know young people are doing, and you use that to create that awareness and raise money (Madison). This generation is always trying to outdo themselves, who will be the next big sensation on YouTube. The winners of this knowledge monopoly are all the groups whose activism has worked and been recognized. The losers are the advocates whose issues were “liked” by slacktivists, maybe someone shared a post but it didn’t go viral. Second, putting activism on social media is a no-brainer, it's a place where supporters are already present. In an article in Psychology Today, Pamela Rutledge, PH.D. asserts that social media is changing public awareness through word-of-mouth persuasion (Rutledge). Social media users often connect with those who share the same opinions. Finding supporters of an issue or cause on social media should amplify advocacy. For example, according to the Sentinel article, since the ice bucket challenge went viral, the ALS Association has received more than 1 million new donors and received more than $80 million in donations as of August 2014 ( Madison). Even though the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a success and proves that social media activism can work, it can set some supporters up for failure. The unintended consequences of social media's effects on activism are that people think they can make the next ice cream.