Mark Zuckerberg, Other Tech Heavyweights Take the #IceBucketChallenge

We first told you about the #icebucketchallenge last week. In efforts to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, you dump a bucket of ice water on yourself and then nominate three others to do the challenge. If they don’t, they have to donate at least $100 to the ALS Association.

You’ve seen your friends doing it all over social media. Well, now the people at the head of those social media platforms are getting in on the action.

Mark Zuckerberg was issued the challenge by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and in turn passed it on to his Facebook colleague COO Sheryl Sandberg, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and Microsoft founder-turned-superphilanthropist Bill Gates.

Current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella braved the cold and also made two $25,000 donations to the cause. He then nominated Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Google’s Larry Page.

Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, posted his #icebucketchallenge to the Twitter-owned video platform, Vine.

Since the challenge began on July 29, over 70 000 new donors have contributed to the ALS Association to raise more than $4 million, four times what was raised in the same time period in 2013.

Have you done the #icebucketchallenge yet? Share your reaction to it with us on Facebook or Twitter.