The Fifteen Social Media Trends that Defined a Generation

THE 15 SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS THAT DEFINED A GENERATION CAUSE RAISED BY NUMBERS HASHTAG KEY PARTICIPANTS 2010 REVEALING BRA COLOUR Breast Cancer Awareness In a move to promote breast cancer awareness, thousands of female Facebook users updated their status revealing the colour of the bra they were wearing. The cryptic lines of 'hot pink', 'black' or 'beige' left many users baffled until they found out the meaning behind it. BATMANNING 2011 Lins Brothers Taking inspiration from Christian Bale's Batman, the viral stunt saw people hanging upside down from their feet. Photographs emerged on social media sites of people hanging from door frames, fences and overhead poles - not all attempts proved successful! 2012 CINNAMON CHALLENGE 1 70,000 tweets per day # #CinnamonChallenge NBA players Nick Young & JaVale McGee The viral food challenge involved individuals ingesting a spoonful of cinnamon in 60 seconds without drinking anything. The consistency of the cinnamon would cause people to gag, cough and sometimes vomit - despite the health risks it was still extremely popular. LION KING-ING Everybody loves the Disney film so when the craze of recreating one of its most famous scenes, when Rafiki holds up baby Simba, thousands jumped at the opportunity. The craze swept the internet with most recreations featuring reluctant cats and dogs, and taking the form of photos and videos. THE CUP SONG 1 14.6m results YouTube Anna Burden Popularised by Anna Kendrick's character in Pitch Perfect, The Cup Song involved individuals clapping and beating rhythmically with a plastic cup while singing 'When I'm Gone', first performed by Lulu and the Lampshades. Kendrick's version of 'Cups' peaked at number 6 in the Billboard chart. GANGNAM STYLE 1 2bn YouTube hits # #GangnamStyle Eton College When Psy came leaping into mainstream consciousness, few could imagine the internet sensation he would become. The Korean pop singer's hit spawned hundreds of parodies and videos which were hard to escape. The original video was the first to pass 1 billion YouTube hits. MILKING In one of the more pointless internet crazes, 'milking' saw people pouring milk over their heads in public places. Primarily a hit amongst students, individuals were filmed taking part in anywhere from outside pubs to in a wheelie bin. HARLEM SHAKE 2013 1bn hits in 40 days 1 #HarlemShake # LeBron James & the Miami Heat The 30 second videos involved an individual dancing alone to the Bauer hit for 15 seconds whilst surrounded by unmoving or bored looking people. The beat kicked in everyone else started to dance just as manically; many participants would be dressed in helmets or strange costumes. GOAT ING Fainting Goats - 22m YouTube hits Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Katy Perry Forget cats, grumpy or otherwise, 2014 was the year of the goat. For months it was hard to escape them, whether they were climbing trees or popping up in Taylor Swift videos, goats went viral. While the first viral video of a goat was of fainting ones back in 2006, they didn't come into their own for another 7 years. 2014 100 HAPPY DAYS 1 350,000 participants # #100happydays Designed to help people to take a minute and reflect on life, 100 Happy Days saw individuals post photos of what made them happy every day for 100 consecutive days. Photos ranged from a simple cup of coffee in the morning to the more extravagant holiday snaps. NO MAKEUP SELFIE Cancer Research UK # #nomakeupselfie Holly Willoughby, Kym Marsh, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini f £8m 700,000 tweets Thousands of woman across Britain took to social media to to post makeup-free photos of themselves in order to promote Cancer Research UK. While the trend wasn't started by the charity, it raised more than £8m in six days by people donating via text message; however some people accidentally sent their donations to UNICEF. THUMBS UP FOR STEPHEN Teenage Cancer Trust # #thumbsupforStephen £ £5m Jason Manford, Steve Coogan, Simon Pegg 1 1.3m followers The final months of Stephen Sutton's life, a teen suffering from incurable bowel cancer, was charted on a Facebook page called Stephen's Story. A photo of the teen doing a thumbs-up from his hospital bed went viral and lead people to post similar photos in support of his campaign. As part of his final wishes, Stephen aimed to raise £lm for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Sadly, Stephen passed away in May 2014. ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE ALS and MND # #ALSIceBucketChallenge Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga £ $100m 2.4m videos on Facebook The summer of 2014 saw people pouring buckets of ice water over their heads to promote awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis disease. Videos of the challenge were then uploaded to Facebook and Instagram, with many participants then donating to the charity. The trend helped raise more than $100m, and in the UK many took part in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. WAKE UP CALL O UNICEF's Syria Appeal # #WakeUpCall 1 Reached 300m Nigella Lawson, Liam Neeson, Stephen Fry Launched by UNICEF UK Ambassador Jemima Khan, the Wake Up Call campaign involved celebrities posting photos of themselves after waking up and donating to the charity. The proceeds from the donations went to UNICEF's Syria appeal. FEELING NUTS Check One Two # #FeelingNuts Hugh Jackman, William Shatner, Ricky Gervais 1 Reached 781m Another charity related trend came in the form of Feeling Nuts, which promoted awareness of testicular cancer and saw a host of famous faces grabbing their crotch in photos which were then posted online. The promotion by Check One Two aimed to educate people and raise awareness in a funny way. Sources www.theguardian.com ANTHON Y NOLAN www.ibtimes.com saving the lives of people with blood cancer www.bbc.co.uk www.vulture.com www.viralblog.com www.mashable.com www.anthonynolan.org www.knowyourmeme.com