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. If I posted one of your images and you’d like a link or attribution, please drop me a line and I will add that. Notice many people embed their website URL or source directly into the image. This is a smart move and is a great way to make it easy for people to share your image yet retain proper attribution.
I hope you will click the link in the first sentence of this post, as part one explains the point of these posts – to give you a quick snapshot of the types of images being viewed and shared hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of times.
Images are perhaps the most powerful form of content to spread on the web due to their portability, instant gratification, and impact. Studying the images that resonate is vital to learn how you can package your own ideas in similar formats to successfully spread.
Fair warning: if you spend as much time as I do immersed in web culture, then many of these images won’t be new to you.
Let’s get right into it – I used a few subheads this time to separate these a bit, and added captions above images and credit below (where available):