Lately, there have been numerous social media challenges as social distancing begins to bed in.
When we talk about social distancing, it may already have negative connotations, however, through these social media challenges, people might see a little silver lining after all.
Social media challenges are very diverse but the common theme is all of them are asking other followers to join in after you’ve watched one. It is a chain; an unending pattern. With the way these challenges work, people are likely to be interacting or even reconnecting with their followers or friends.
Some of the popular social media challenges making the rounds at the moment are:
Until Tomorrow
When you hit like on a photo that your friend posted with the caption “Until Tomorrow” on Instagram, you’ll probably get a DM from the person that asks you to post an embarrassing picture of you on Instagram for 24 hours, then eventually repeating the same cycle to the likes of your photo. This might be very hard to avoid, even when you already know not to like the pictures with that caption!
Username
This requires people to post on their Instagram a story about the meaning of their username. Some users may have interesting or unusual usernames. Who knew that our Instagram usernames would have such deep meanings or just pure, funny, inside jokes!
Bingo
Many e-commerce brands or communities are making templates for playing bingo that relates to them and their followers. The challenge is meant to keep audience engagement high, despite the pandemic. A lot of users, surprisingly, are having loads of fun doing this challenge. As they unwind, they can still feel that sense of belonging to the group or community.
This or That
Just like a fun trivia game, this challenge requires users to choose between two options. Teenagers love this one, particularly because it reminds them of what they really like.
Spell your Name Workout
Keeping in shape is a must during physical distancing! To make it fun, people are starting to do workout challenges on Instagram. The “spell your name workout” challenge is one of the ways to burn off those extra calories you’re getting from excessive snacking whilst being so close to the fridge. Each letter of the alphabet is assigned a specific workout, for example, C could be 15 pushups and A could be 15 burpees, and so on. Participants do the set of exercises accordingly to their name and in the right order.
Female Empowerment Challenge
This challenge includes women tagging ten other women in their Instagram story. Although this challenge is underrated, the message being delivered by this challenge needs some recognition. The challenge points out how some women tend to tear other women down or compete on social media – for likes to see who is prettier or more popular – and encourages women to build up the women they admire instead.
Historically speaking, social media challenges have been around since way before the coronavirus pandemic, such as the Ice Bucket Challenge or the InMyFeelings challenge. Sure, it may be super annoying to see people posting the same challenges all the time on their accounts, but what could be a better way to kill off some time? Looking on the bright side, surely those challenges actually bring benefits to everyone in these tough and often boring times.
Michelle, a communication graduate, said her favourite one is the “Until Tomorrow” challenge as “it’s refreshing to see everyone’s embarrassing pictures after years of only well-crafted pictures on Instagram,” she said.
Julianto, a marketing officer confirmed this. “My company uses the “Bingo” challenge to keep their IG followers entertained as well as increasing the traffic. They also have TikTok competition for employees who are still working at the office. So they are asked to make TikTok videos about their activities during work. And the most creative video will be chosen and rewarded.”
See? After all, physical distancing can be so much fun if we look at the bright side. It increases online interaction with friends, and also spreads positive messages such as the “Until Tomorrow” challenge did to Michelle.
“From the social media challenges, we get a sense of unity; since we’re united by the same boredom and feeling of helplessness against our current condition, but it doesn’t deter us from having fun. It also makes us reach out to different people because maybe only certain people can or are willing to do certain challenges, and so on. All in all, it’s refreshingly entertaining and a way to communicate with people,” Michelle added.
See: What to do at Home During Social Distancing – Virtual Reality Museums and Cultural Sites