Every year that it has been held, THON has grown with more money being raised, more Four Diamond families being helped, and more students taking part in the fight against pediatric cancer. Unsurprisingly, THON’s recent rapid growth into the largest student-run philanthropic event in the world corresponds with the advent of social media and the Internet as a powerful public marketing tool.
THON’s reach isn’t about the money raised, but instead, the experiences created and the awareness raised. However, the additional funds raised in search of a cure don’t hurt.
Throughout the year, organizations publicized their fundraisers on social media in order to generate support, by reaching mass audiences at the click of a button. Class Facebook pages broaden the reach of this crudely effective form of advertising by enabling users to communicate with classmates who they may not know but are in the class group.
On THON Weekend, various celebrities, namely Khloe Kardashian, tweeted out their support For The Kids, spreading the word around the world beyond Central Pennsylvania.
To gain a better understanding of THON’s global reach, this article analyzed the Twitter analytics of #THON and found that there were heavily concentrated clusters of people using THON buzzwords and hashtags like #FTK, Atlas, and @joejonas around the country.
Media outlets like Onward State spent the weekend creating content that captured the event minute by minute and descriptively shared its stories with readers around the world. The post-THON Google Analytics of Onward State showed that there was a strong readership and following in countries like Sweden, Afghanistan, and Colombia.
For those who couldn’t make it to THON either because they lived far away, had just heard about it online from Kardashian, or were studying abroad, a live stream showed the full 46 hours and all its action. A good friend of mine, who is one of the most charitably involved students at my high school, wants to attend Penn State, and is currently fighting leukemia, watched from home over the weekend and texted me how excited THON made him to come here in two years. When I think of him watching the live stream and feeling so excited and inspired, I realize that that’s what the wide scope of THON’s efforts are about. Not 46 hours or line dances or members of 2000s boy bands but the hope ignited within. And the Internet mobilizes that hope to spread around the world.
Granted, there are some things that the Internet can’t do.
You need to experience the vibes and energy still running through the Bryce Jordan Center at 3 a.m. for yourself. It also isn’t the same if you aren’t developing relationships with the children, the families, and other students along the way or directly participating in the fundraisers on canning weekends or any of the other events held throughout the year.
However, the Internet and all of its applications do provide the next best thing to crowding into the BJC for 46 hours.