This document discusses the elements and characteristics of trends. The key elements of a trend include: a large number of participants, a pattern of repetitive behavior over time, and a long period of time spanning decades. Trends also have a cause or starting point, and consequences or impacts on society. Characteristics of trends include different levels from microtrends affecting small groups to megatrends and gigatrends that impact most or all of humanity. Examples discussed include the evolution of cell phones and smartphones as long-term trends, and taking selfies as a pattern of behavior that became widely adopted.

1. UNDERSTANDING THE
ELEMENTS AND
CHARACTERISTICS OF A
TREND

2. WHAT MAKES A TREND A TREND?
•A trend is a pattern of
behavior demonstrated by
a big number of people
within a particular period
and that which
continuously grow and
evolve overtime while a
fad is an intense but
short-lived fashion.

3. ELEMENTS
OF
A TREND

4. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS
•It pertains to people who follow a certain
trend which is started by an individual or a
group of people. The group then grows into
a community, and eventually swells into
national and international societies.

5. • For example, the prevailing fashion of a
period, follows what celebrities are wearing
or what fashion designers offer. People often
copy the trendsetters and so a new fashion
trend develops.

6. • One example of this is denim jeans that
became a casual wear by all genders on a
regular basis. Jeans are especially perfect for
crafting swoon-worthy ensembles mostly due to
the fact that they work well with just about
anything especially when it comes to different
looks.

7. PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR
• It refers to a trend that is formed from repetitive
actions of people. For example, the simple act of taking a
selfie has now become a cultural trend. It is almost
impossible not to see someone taking a selfie in any place –
be it in a tourist spot, in a restaurant, in a hotel lobby, beside
a movie poster in a cinema, in a concert hall, and at an
event, among others.

8. LET ME TAKE A SELFIE! 
• Before smartphones and
portable digital cameras, pictures
or portraits were taken by another
person.
The selfie phenomenon enabled
people to construct themselves
visually and present it to the public by
putting it on social media.

9. • Others view the taking selfies with disdain as a
symbol of narcissism and superficiality, while others
consider it as an act of self-exploration and a gauge
for acceptance.
• Taking “groufies” has been prevalent that everyone
is into it, too.

10. LONG PERIOD OF TIME
•It is one of the crucial elements of a trend which
means that a trend has to have a long-time frame,
sometime running for decades. A trend may
experience some ups and downs in popularity,
may fade away, and may recur. A good example
of this element of trend is the telephone.

11. THE PICTURE SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF
CELLPHONES OVER THE YEARS

12. • It is a communication instrument that revolutionized
modern living and created various social impacts. It was
soon overtaken by the popularity of mobile phones in
the late 1990s that have text messaging feature. Then
newer technologies allowed smartphones to include
many applications and internet connectivity. Although
telephones are still present in homes and offices,
smartphones clearly have gotten ahead in functionality
and usage.

13. CAUSE
• It refers to the starting point of a trend which can be an
idea, a technology, an event or a person. All trends have
beginnings and someone or somebody definitely started
it. The question here is, how did it start? Now, this
becomes quite obvious as all material elements of a
culture started with one’s ideas, therefore, it is also
conclusive that one starting point of a trend was an idea.

14. •Someone or somebody thought about it in the
first place. The evolution of telephone, it was
Alexander Graham Bell who first invented and
engineered the very first telephone back in
1876.

15. CONSEQUENCE
•It refers to the considerable impact or influence of a
trend. Social networking has become an
encompassing trend that tends to influence behaviors
of online users. With the popularity of smartphones,
users began subscribing to various social networking
portals which enable them to post activity statuses and
photos, and even connect with celebrities.

16. • Currently, these social media platforms and their
messaging and video conferencing features are
finding their relevance today especially for the
students and teachers. For example, due to the
pandemic, teachers, students and parents use these
features for the virtual teaching and learning process.

17. • However, this trend can also create a rather negative
consequence among its followers. One example is
depicted on the illustration below.

18. • Quality time among family members to
share one another’s presence is being
diverted to other less relevant concerns
brought about by the social media. They
can literally be described as “near yet so
far.”

19. • which means that they may be
physically near each other, in fact,
sharing food on the same table, yet
their attention is far from the family
moment.

20. CHARACTERISTI
CS
OF
A TREND

21. • Trends are difficult to study and analyze.
Studying them is like predicting the future
and determining what changes may
possibly last and thus have wide effects
on society and the people.

22. • Rehn and Lindkvist (2013) mentioned a so-
called hierarchy of trends, which explains why
trends seem to have varying reach, effects, and
influences on people. This hierarchy is a
representation of the scale of the development
of a trend.

23. MICROTRENDS
• These are “little things that happen all
around us all the time, the tiny shifts that
occur in everything from clothes we wear
and the snacks we eat to the way we work,
play, and love.”

24. • These trends happen right now and are outright
observable.
• EXAMPLES:
Smartphone App/Games which are dependent
the capabilities of a smartphone (these
apps/games oftentimes lose their popularity
overtime.)

25. MACROTRENDS
• These are “aggregated microtrends or
more sweeping changes that are affecting
society.” They provide major changes that
are perceptible in the societal level for a
longer period.

26. EXAMPLES:
• Varying Smartphone brands
(iPhone vs. android phones) Battle
for popularity of these
smartphones

27. MEGATRENDS
• These are macrotrends that have grown up and
moved out. They are big, bold and affect lives of
great swathes of the human race.” They can last for
decades and are so pervasive as to be generally
known. They have become the prevailing condition
that has become to normal.

28. EXAMPLES:
• Smartphones which are
dependent on the internet.
Smartphones are widely used by
almost all people in the world.

29. GIGATRENDS
• These are “trends that are so general that
they affect most areas of human life- or, at
least more than one aspect of life or more
than one industry.” They are usually
identified to define an era.

30. EXAMPLES:
• Internet or the World Wide Web
which may be considered as the
soul of almost all technology.