“The Tipping Point”
The hashtag #PlankADay, started in 2013 by Sherry Pagoto, quickly spread across Twitter as a way for people to be accountable on their ab workout. From the perspective of a typical participant, he or she would first #PlankADay to get started. The partaker’s friends would have referred him or her to this trend because it was a popular social activity to be involved in. Every day, the participant would attempt to do a plank for a brief period. If the participant forgot to do his or her workout for more than two days, a “Plank Police” would set out to remind him or her to keep planking. In this way, the trend was long-lasting and continued to motivate the participant. The participant might have felt as if he or she was actively participating in this social trend, which brought a great amount of motivation. Also, the participant would have been accountable for his or her own well being by listening to the “Plank Police” and continuing to do the plank. The typical participant would have had a normal BMI, was most likely a middle-aged woman, and did some form of exercise at least 3 times a week. For the planker, this hashtag was not just a way to improve their core strength; the plank simply became a social viral behavior that infected him or her.
The author of this article, Sherry Pagoto, may show some bias …show more content…
Here, people would be able to document them planking and show the video to their friends. The hashtag #PlankADay can be spread on these two forms of social media as well and would exponentially increase its popularity. This would allow for the hashtag spreading more across different forms of media. A short-term outcome of this trend would be an increased number of people participating in this challenge on Twitter and the gradual increase in coverage of this trend on particular newspapers so people would be able to learn more about