97 Images The Web Shared In 2008 Presented by Adam Singer – TheFutureBuzz.com ( @AdamSinger )

Viral videos are ubiquitous – they have spread into both mainstream pop culture and corporate America.

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.

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.

Images can be spread on the web through several means, and they criss-cross back and forth between: Message-boards and forums Blogs/Microblogs Emails (inter-office, personal and mass emails to all your friends) Social networks Basic HTML Web sites Company intranets Anywhere, really

Images can be spread on the web through

several means, and they criss-cross back and

forth between:

Message-boards and forums

Blogs/Microblogs

Emails (inter-office, personal and mass emails to all your friends)

Social networks

Basic HTML Web sites

Company intranets

Anywhere, really

Good editors know images tell the story and reinforce your messages stronger than words alone.

Viral images have held on tightly and are as much a part of “Web 2.0” (sorry for the clichéd term) as they were for Web 1.0. They are popular amongst all web users for good reasons. Strong images: Prove a point quickly Give people a story to spread Can create deep emotional connections Are easily consumable, perfect for a medium that moves fast Are entertaining, hilarious or compelling Are easy to share

Viral images have held on tightly and are as

much a part of “Web 2.0” (sorry for the clichéd

term) as they were for Web 1.0. They are

popular amongst all web users for good

reasons. Strong images:

Prove a point quickly

Give people a story to spread

Can create deep emotional connections

Are easily consumable, perfect for a medium that moves fast

Are entertaining, hilarious or compelling

Are easy to share

One could easily make the argument images are the most shared format of content on the web…

Learn what type of images spread successfully by studying the content archetypes and emotional triggers of strong images.

Let’s view some of the images the web shared like crazy in 2008. Captions added to provide context, where necessary. Collected from a combination of Digg, Reddit, Blogs, and StumbleUpon

Bottled water truths revealed

This guy should have heeded the warning sign

Clichéd 80’s guy

8 bit street art

Hydrogen bomb cloud

Peyto Lake in Canada

Perfect timing…

Irony

Ultimate super-soaker collection

Lightning at sunset

Balloon tank

Bill and Hillary Clinton in the 70’s

Dare to break the rules…

Another shot taken at the perfect moment

Space station from above

You’d think someone would fix this

Nice try, Verizon

CNN putting emphasis on the most important issue of the day

When the one cup policy for your company picnic backfires

Regular vs. hi-def

How does this even happen!?

The RIAA is about to stick the lawyers

More irony

Self-explanatory

Making fun of those old motivational posters is a classic on the web

Really?

Sad.

Sara can’t make up her mind

A popular image floating around message forums – the “failure” meme is a hit

Another example of the failure meme

Great advertising by FedEx

George seems like a nice guy

Grandma’s got some spunk

Amazing shot of a guy petting a shark

Search results for “Hell” on your iPhone

Perfect timing…

A little excessive?

The LOL cat phenomenon is all over the web

Another of my favorite LOL cats

Loyal to the end

Imaginary numbers

Linux vs. Windows

Life will find a way

Difference between a stone and an iphone

IQ’s across professions

Making fun of pie charts is a classic

Devolution of philosophy?

The Rubik’s Cube, solved

PC > Mac:

From XKCD, a popular webcomic

Unknown, but great

From Gaping Void

from PHDComics.com

Physics isn’t that hard…

You can’t blame the kid, too good a setup

Creative ad for Career Junction:

Exactly…

I love this campaign

LOLcats make it off the internet, and into the comics

Just read

Old ads are another classic viral image

How is it even possible to make this mistake?

Don’t mess with geeks

Tandem cyclones

Amazing walls of snow

No escape…

We need to talk…

Clouds attacking the mountain

School of rays

When waves collide

Nice timing

Stunning tree, just beautiful

What do you think – Photoshopped or not?

Just an awesome photo

Something isn’t right about this one…

Self-fulfilling prophecy?

You can do it little buddy

Not sure what they thought would happen by doing this

Great advertising by 3M – that is real money in there, they definitely believe in the product

Why you can’t trust automated translators

Just a normal work lunch Just a normal work lunch

Chicago from above

Tijuana meets San Diego

Shuttle launch

Beware of the sign

That’s got to be the weirdest Ebay feedback I’ve ever seen

Windows vista source code released

Great analogy

Clever clever…

Wait, what? Clever clever…

Amazing angle Clever clever…

Images as blog posts with attribution, where possible: 50 Viral Images (and how they spread) 50 Viral Images Part Two Be sure to subscribe to The Future Buzz for more on media, marketing and PR.