Twitter Challenges
<
(4 of 4)
The Quarantine Song Challenge
Twitter users post the name of the song that was number one on their 12th birthday. This is their isolation theme tune.
<
(1 of 2)
Next argument >
The Argument
For “The Quarantine Song Challenge,” Twitter users tweet the name of the song that was number one on their twelfth birthday to be their “isolation theme song.” This challenge was started with an image circulating that states, “Whatever song was number 1 on your 12th birthday is your quarantine theme song.” Responses to the challenge are collected under the hashtag #QuarantineThemeSong.
To find out what your twelfth birthday song is, you can use websites like “This Day in Music,” which allows you to enter any date and see what song was number one on that day. The website can show you the number one song on that day in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Germany, Canada, and other countries.[1] There have been some variations on this challenge where you post all of the different number one songs in a few different countries or where you post the song that was number one on the day you were born. Additionally, there are some posts in the hashtag #QuarantineThemeSong that are just songs people have selected that capture the mood of their quarantine thus far.
This is the most successful social media challenge because it is so easy to do. It only takes a few seconds to access the “This Day in Music” website and post your findings onto your Twitter account. Everyone can participate, as everyone has had a twelfth birthday. This challenge is super accessible because you can do it even if you have a very limited schedule, disabilities, or other factors that may restrict you from participating in other social media challenges. As long as you have a Twitter account and a minute of free time, you can do this challenge! Additionally, as everyone is sharing the experience of being in quarantine currently, there’s definitely going to be some people who can relate to your post. In these ways, this challenge has been a great success in which everyone can participate.
Counter arguments
This challenge is not a challenge at all. It would be more accurate to describe this as a social media trend, like something that you tag your friends to do that only takes a few minutes, such as the trend of girls on Instagram tagging their friends in their selfies to promote self-love for women. The Quarantine Song Challenge has no challenging aspects at all, in fact it's even easier than many social media trends that aren't labeled as challenges. This challenge only takes a few moments to complete, so it has relatively very little longevity and memorability in comparison to other more involved challenges, like the Savage Challenge. No particular instances of people completing the Quarantine Song Challenge have gone viral, which also contributes to the challenge's lack of memorability. Furthermore, this challenge has gotten almost no media coverage whatsoever, besides a few scattered articles on local news websites. There are no significant instances of celebrities or other public figures participating in this challenge. If difficulty, longevity, memorability, popularity, and/or celebrity participation are indicators of a challenge's success, then this challenge is definitely not the most successful social media challenge.