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:
- 50 Viral Images From 2008 And How They Spread (part 1)
- 50 Viral Images Shared in 2009 (part 2)
- 50 More Viral Images Shared in 2009 (part 3)
- 50 Viral Images The Web Shared In 2010 (part 4)
- 50 Clever And Creative Images The Web Shared In 2010 (part 5)
All caught up? Great.
So what is the web sharing in 2011? Let’s check out a sampling of the images currently going hot across social web channels in the first two months of this year.
Infographics, charts and graphs
Well explained
Everyone seems to get this wrong
Makes sense to me
If you’re reading this, you should be thankful
Indeed…
Food for thought for publishers
Cats…always just out of reach
Done that…
Fairly self-explanatory
But why would anyone do this?
Sleep-related charts seem to be popular lately
Facebook infographic
How Netflix disrupted Blockbuster
PBS embracing infographics to raise awareness for funding
Nature, animals
Cold, but stunning
Winter forest looking up
A break in the clouds
Dragonfly up close
Transparent lake
As the storm approaches
Tornado chasers catch one on film
Would you live here?
Sky view from the tundra
Sleeping fox
Lynx and cat make good friends
I don’t want you to be upset, but….
Fire dragon
Fog over the city
Creative ads
As someone who has gone car-free, I agree with this
This karate studio has a sense of humor
Great calling card for a personal trainer
Star Wars posters remixed
Clever stop smoking ad
Everything else / random
The snowman plots his revenge
Indeed…
Just the right moment
How to always be early
Couldn’t have said it better
This one made me laugh, if you don’t get it – here is context
More hilarious test answers
This would be a pretty good practical joke
Giraffe-hand
Not sure why the moray eel diagram has started to be passed along, but there you go
Oh…so that’s what The Matrix twins were based off of
Great above shot of the space shuttle
Creative smoke art
These two are always battling it out in the morning
Android vs. iPhone
Bubble pop captured
Smart…
Note: if I used one of your images and you would like credit, please drop me a note and I’ll update with attribution. Unfortunately an overwhelming majority of users save content on various image hosting services without attribution – so it is difficult to provide that on every image (but I’ve done so where possible).