The Social Web In Pictures: 50 Viral Images Shared In 2011. I’ve documented images that get passed on socially here since 2008 (and have been sharing them personally around the web for over a decade).
Images predate video yet continue to proliferate quicker due to their inherent instant nature. My methodology for gathering these is simple: it has to break the “hot” threshold on StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg or some other community that includes diversity, aggregation and incentives. I collect as I go to share with you here. The social news sites don’t all keep their archives publicly available, so I feel it useful to keep a record. Plus anyone looking to have their ideas spread can learn from the clear archetypes of successful images. So if you’re new to this site (or this series) start by checking out the following posts in this series: All caught up? So what is the web sharing in 2011? Infographics, charts and graphs Well explained Everyone seems to get this wrong image credit: incompetech.com. 50 Clever And Creative Images The Web Shared In 2010. As someone interested in what we share and why, I’ve been aggregating images that go popular on the social web for the last 3 years.
The methodology for how I put them together is simple. I’m a member of multiple social sharing communities and save the best images that go hot as-it-happens to later sort and aggregate for you here. There are a few reasons I’ve been doing this. One is I get feedback from readers saying they appreciate receiving a sampling of images shared throughout the year in one place (in case they missed some). The other is to help you – as someone interested in having your ideas shared. So if you’re new to this site (or this series) start by checking out the following posts (which also provide more analysis/commentary on trends in viral images): All caught up?
50 Viral Images The Web Shared In 2009. If you’re new to this blog, start by checking out: All caught up?
Great – on to part 3. Good visuals help marketers, bloggers and anyone with ideas communicate them quickly. They tell the story faster than text and feed into the web’s fast-past culture of real-time sharing due to their instant gratification. Viral images are one of the oldest content archetypes on the web, yet are set on fire by new social tools and continue to proliferate – with the most interesting ones still being shared like crazy. Email, Twitter, blogs, forums and everything in between are used to share images. So to help you integrate imagery into what you do, I continue to document the images that go popular on larger web communities like Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon (usually hosted on image sharing services like imgur/photobucket or are posted on a blog and then trickle down to Twitter, Facebook, email, etc – that’s generally the pattern although definitely not the rule).
Charts/infographics Source: opinions? Humor. 50 Viral Images Part Two. My original 50 viral images (and how they spread) post turned out to be extremely successful and was read quite a few times to say the least. I was surprised so many people were interested as the images in there had already been passed around social media to death. With that said, I failed to consider most people don’t spend nearly as much time on the web as I do. Seeing as the first viral images post was published June 15, 2008 we’re passed due for a fresh one. Again, as I said in the previous post: Unfortunately due to the nature of images on the web (images being copied, posted without attribution, shared via email and public hosting services, being submitted anonymously, rexmied, etc.) it is difficult for me to give proper attribution of these images.
Images are perhaps the most powerful form of content to spread on the web due to their portability, instant gratification, and impact. Infographics, charts and graphs: found via monster-munch.com credit: David Armano via Neatorama PC > Mac: 50 Viral Images (and how they spread) Viral videos are ubiquitous – they have spread into both mainstream pop culture and corporate America.
Everyone talks about developing viral videos, and there are plenty of techniques you can use to give your video the best chance of success. But, something not talked about as frequently are viral images. Viral images predate viral videos, and have been around since the AOL and Prodigy days when there wasn’t enough bandwidth available for the everyday user to access video. 50 (More) Viral Images The Web Shared In 2011. Images continue to be the web’s most underrated content format.
And if anything, in 2011 we’ve seen the pace of image sharing continue to increase. I’m a fan of images in particular because of how simple they are both to pass on and manipulate: basically encouraging an ongoing story through a culture of remix. It’s why Imgur does more than a million visitors per month and startups like Canvas show great promise. With that said, readers here specifically are interested in seeing their ideas spread. That’s why I encourage visual thinking and one of the reasons I’ve been sharing the most popular images here over the last 3 years. So if you’re new to this site (or this series) start with the following posts: Keep these in mind when you scroll through the below, you’ll notice some clear archetypes.
50 Viral Images The Web Shared In 2010. As a perpetual observer/analyzer of what people share and why, it’s fascinating to me to study content that spreads.
As such, I document/bookmark much of the web’s hottest content for my own insight/analysis, but I also share with readers here too. Images have always been one of the most popular types of content on the web, (even through the popularization of video) and I’m always surprised more marketing and PR folk don’t actively use them as part of their content mixes.