Hi, and welcome to my blog where I will take you through viral trends/challenges that took over the internet. My name is Daniel Malamphy and I am a senior Communication Studies major at Longwood. For my blog I wanted to talk about different viral trends that happened over the past decade. With the help from social media and smartphones, people are able to connect at a faster rate allowing them to spread information at their convenience. Over time we have seen unique viral trends take over the internet and I thought it would be interesting to talk about it, and why they spread the way they do.
Today I will be covering one of the very first viral trends that took the internet by storm. In 2011 the viral trend at the time was called “Planking”, and this consisted of people laying in a face down position in public spaces. The name “planking” refers to imitating a wooden plank (go figure). It started to catch attention and popularity mid 2011 and eventually died out in the beginning of 2012.
Planking became so popular you even see it on mainstream television such as The Office (U.S).
Celebrities even took part in this hysterical trend by posting to their social media accounts. (Jimmy Fallon and Andy Samberg on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.)
However with every good thing comes the bad. We started to see a lot of backlash coming from this trend. People started 'planking' in more and more dangerous places leading to injury and even one death. On 15 May 2011, Acton Beale, a 20 year old man fell to his death after reportedly "planking" on a seventh-floor balcony in Brisbane, Australia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planking_(fad))
Next week I'll be covering the viral trend, The Cinnamon Challenge, so be sure to lookout for my next post! #ChallengeArmy
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