1. The document describes a viral seeding plan to create a video called "100 Reasons to Stay NP" about suicide prevention for SUNY New Paltz. 2. Students and faculty wrote down reasons to stay at an event and posted photos to social media with the hashtag #100ReasonsToStayNP. 3. The video was then posted on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr using the same hashtag to spread awareness.

1. Victor Ortiz
PR Publications
Link to Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zi7EcR-w-8&feature=youtu.be
Viral Seeding Plan
The original 100 Reasons to Stay video was created by a Quinnipiac student named
Lauren Taylor. Her goal was to spread the word about suicide prevention in order in a way then
the concepts she had seen in the past. Since then other universities such as the University of
Oregon have made their own versions of the video. My idea was to spread the word about
suicide prevention by making a New Paltz version of 100 Reasons To Stay and involving the
student body and the faculty. I began by holding a four hour session in front of SUB 100 in the
Student Union, where students and faculty could come to a table with markers and paper and
write down their reason to stay, after this I took a picture of that person on my phone or theirs
and posted the picture on their social media sites using the hashtag #100ReasonsToStayNP The
turnout actually ended up exceeding the amount I thought would participate. Many students
showed up after checking their instagram, twitter and facebook and seeing the pictures take over
feed. The campus television station even came to the event, held an interview and filmed many
parts of the event in order to create a spot on the campus network that would highlight the event
and encourage students to take part in the project.
The use of the hashtag plays a very big part in helping this video go viral. The hashtag
stays the same regardless of the social media account used, which makes it easier to keep track of
the progress being made. The hashtag also helps users who notice that their feeds are covered in
the reasons and are interested in the idea, join in on the movement by using the hashtag as a
reference for ideas on what their reasons could be before they post them. Ultimately the use of
the hashtag was so successful that those who couldn’t come to the event or were in other states or
countries were able to participate from home by taking their own picture and posting it under the
hashtag, I received reasons from places as far as England. I made sure to let the participants
know that a video of all the reasons would ultimately be created so they should be on the
lookout. The goal was to create a video that participants were so heavily involved in and
emotionally attached to that when the video was posted, they couldn’t wait to repost it, share it or
link to their other social media accounts. The link to the video along with a description
discussing suicide statistics among college students was then posted on to social media sites such
as facebook, twitter, instagram and tumblr using the same hashtag that was originally used to
collect the reasons, #100ReasonstostayNP.
Tumblr plays a very big part in how successful the video is, it is a blogging site that
makes the concept of creating a blog very simple to its users. This site also allows for easy video
posting as well as tagging options. Tumblr being a multi media site allows the video to spread by
being reposted and viewed from one blog to the next, this makes it so that even users that aren’t
looking up the video within the hashtags it is in may still find the video, reblog it and expose

2. other users to it. Tumblr also allows the posting of GIFS, users can take pieces of their favorite
parts of the video or whole parts of the video and post it on their blogs and dashboards, this also
catches the attention of other users, especially if a link to the video is posted along with the gif
related to it. Facebook is also important because it allows users to share videos others have
posted and also allows the use of hashtags. Users can either find the video through searching the
hashtag or watching the video through a friend sharing it. The sharing option is important
because it allows users who may not be friends with someone that originally posted the video to
still view the video from someone else who has shared it from that person’s profile. Twitter is
important because of its specific use of hashtags, enough people posting about the same hashtag
make it popular or make it trend so that users can see the topic on the main page or on their
popular posts. Like facebook and its share option, Twitter has the retweeting option which allows
users to spread the link for the video throughout their accounts. Instagram is the most important
in the success of this video. Because users were encouraged to use their Instagram to post their
reasons under the hashtag, it not only makes it easier to gather all of the reasons to create the
video but also gives other users a visual example of what they need to do to join in on the event,
while also spreading the message of the video. Instagram also allows users the option of sharing
their pictures through their other social media accounts including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr,
which allows the images that are a part of the video to also have the possibility of going viral,
bringing more attention to the video itself.
Immediately, participants within the campus community began to like and favorite the
link for the video and sharing it to their own social media sites. In the original post for the video
I also encouraged people to post the video onto the walls of others they knew were battling
depression or suicidal thoughts or just needed a pick me up during a stressful time, which I saw a
lot of after the video was posted as well. Many participants sent feedback that accounts for the
SUNY New Paltz campus had began to favorite and like many of their posts. The ultimate goal is
for the video to be posted on the New Paltz website, where it can reach the rest of the student
body and encourage them, as the end of the video does, to join the movement and post their own
reasons under the hashtag. Ultimately, the video’s popularity and connection to SUNY New
Paltz and the New Paltz community could also help bring positive attention to the University as
well as the town. The publicity gained on the school’s website as well as on the campus
television station would help to spread the word about the video and help it gain more views. The
video is also something that can be used by the campus counseling centers and help centers on
their sites or when talking to students as a tool to help students who are overstressed or depressed
find positivity in their lives.
The video was tagged under many things including SUNY New Paltz and New Paltz, the
school and town we are targeting in the video. Suicide Prevention and Suicide were other tags
because they are the topics that the entire video hopes to spread awareness about and help with in
some way. Other tags were 100 Reasons to Stay and Reasons To Stay mainly because the
original video received a lot of national news attention and publicity, receiving many views,
using the name of the original video in the tags for the video as well as part of the title for the
video, this helps use the popularity and following of the original video to help increase views and
attention. This also helps to attract other viewers who are looking at the original video and aren’t
aware that the SUNY New Paltz campus has its own version of it as well.