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The nature of viral altruism and how to make it stick

Nature Human Behaviour volume 1, Article number: 0041 (2017) Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 17 February 2017

Societal altruism is changing. Increased awareness and use of online social media is providing new ways of inspiring collective action and support for critical societal challenges. What makes some social causes go viral while others never seem to take off?

In the era of online social media, network contagion effects allow social causes to reach a large number of interconnected individuals fast, efficiently, and at low cost. Some social causes go viral and garner significant support very quickly; others are less successful. Understanding the nature of viral altruism and its core behavioural characteristics can help us sustain positive social change.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: The impact of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on key indicators of public interest before, during and after the 2014–2015 campaign.

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  1. Sander van der Linden is in the Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.

    Sander van der Linden

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  1. Sander van der Linden
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Correspondence to Sander van der Linden.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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van der Linden, S. The nature of viral altruism and how to make it stick. Nat Hum Behav 1, 0041 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-016-0041

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-016-0041

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