by Connie Kim
I like to consider Twitter the birthplace of all hashtags, the initial phenomenon that allows users to tag topics and leave subtle thoughts after a thought. Hashtags on Twitter have led to a sensation of features, including trending topics, current news and of course, my personal favorite, the “Hashtags” segment every Wednesday on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
Recently, Twitter and it’s hashtags have contributed to another social media trend: challenges. Many tweeters are uploading photos of videos on their accounts, displaying their own participation and skills.
One of the most popular ones is the #MannequinChallenge. It started with a bunch of high school students freezing in time through their campus hallway, mimicking what reminds me of a museum exhibit. While everyone stays completely still, one person with their cell phone camera walks around to capture it. And of course, it wouldn’t be official without Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” playing in the background. For some reason, that song caught on to become the official theme for all #MannequinChallenge videos. A couple of other people caught on, and now there are #MannequinChallenges being done everywhere – and I mean everywhere. From Walmart workers restocking, to gymnasts holding their single handed handstand on the balance beam. Celebrities, especially EDM artists and DJs, have also seemed to have caught onto the trend. At their own concerts, they ask the audience to participate. This results in an amazing video where the DJ himself along with the entire stadium filled with hundreds of people stay completely frozen with their hands in the air and ecstatic smiles without a blink in sight.
There are several other established challenges on Twitter, of course. And some a lot more outrageous than others. The #BackpackChallenge is one that I stumbled upon my feed not too long ago. The video usually takes place in a high school hallway, with students and their backpacks lining up on both sides of the hall. Another student runs through the crowd while getting attacked by book bags that were thrown at him from his left and right.
One of the newer challenges, #GreySweatpantsChallenge, showcases a male’s erect penis, as they take a mirror selfie in grey sweatpants which outline their bulge. While it initially started to be a sexual challenge, users came up with funny ways to tease the topic, stuffing their grey sweatpants with a multitude of items such as a shoe box, or a ukulele, with it captioned, “haters will say it’s fake.”
Immediately after the presidential election results, there was another challenge that was short lived. This trend was called #TrumpIsComing, and it was executed by one person yelling the phrase and everyone else screaming and running out of the room; it’s similar to how the toys acted in “Toy Story” when someone yelled, “Andy’s coming!”
While a lot of this might make someone question the trends’ popularity, I find it to be very entertaining. The challenges and their existence bring light to people’s sense of humor, the comments and reactions that people get from it add to the entertainment. The viral videos of these challenges going around show us how creative people can be, and to me it’s a sign of how cool people really are. It tells me that people are willing to have some fun for the sake of having a good time. Although they are called challenges, there is no winner to any of this; it’s all for the fun people get out of being a part of it.
So what exactly is the end goal? Well, like trying to catch ’em all in “Pokémon Go,” there’s really no end prize here. It’s all in the fun of participating. So go ahead, try one of them – preferably not the overly sexual ones – and join the fun. Upload what you have and enjoy scrolling through what everyone else posted.
