Over the years, the Internet has given birth to many trends. The Internet continues to change and evolve right in front of us, revealing new trends we never saw coming.

Today we live in a mobile era powered by the Internet. Gone are the days when email and instant messaging were the big Internet craze that everyone knew and loved.

Welcome to the digital era where apps and gadgets are as much a part of our lives as the food we eat.  

Many of us have become hopelessly addicts to these new inventions and trends. We become hooked on these devices because of our endless desires to consume more content.

Let’s look at some defining trends that have completely reshaped our lives and the internet.

LOL with memes: Meme

Ok, so let’s clear the air before we go any further. The word meme is pronounced meem not me-me. Now that that’s taken care of, let’s take a look at what memes are.

An internet meme, more commonly known as a meme, is an idea, behaviour, image, or style that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms.  

The Internet is obsessed with sharing memes and several individuals have successfully built business empires out of them. 

We can’t get enough of them; memes help us to have a good laugh- so keep them coming!

Ah, let me take a selfie: The Selfie Movement

Thanks to the front-facing cameras on our smartphones, the selfie movement came to life.

It changed the whole picture landscape, the way we take pictures, and social media apps changed the way we share them. This popular trend has been embraced by both the young and old.

 The selfie movement paved the way for the development of selfie sticks which changed the ball game even more.

No No too slow: News breaks on social media first

In this day and age if you want access to the latest news as fast as possible, social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are your best options.

The invention of social media has changed the way we consume news and stay updated on what’s happening across the world in real time.

However, the problem that lies with such quick breaking news is that there’s no assurance that everything that pops up on your feed or stream is credible.

Social media, while it places news at our fingertips, creates a space for fake news to be posted. So, be careful what you read and what you share on social media.

#Let’scategorizeconversations: Hashtags here, there and everywhere

Twitter is the original social network that brought about the #hashtag trend some years ago.

Other social media platforms quickly picked up on the trend and today the hashtag craze can be used on Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr.

Hashtags have quickly grown to become the solution for effectively categorising content based on specific themes or keywords to narrow down and make the searching process a whole lot easier.

#hashtagsareheretostay!

How cute: A newfound love for GIFs

An animated GIF is a brilliant cross between an image and a short video without any sound.

Popular social networking platforms that feature mostly image-based content, such as Tumblr and Reddit, are go-to places to find GIFs of all kinds.

You can also find GIFs on Giphy, the Internet’s image search engine for GIFs, or try Google’s image search filter for animated GIFs.

Influencers: Regular people turned Internet famous

Well, in today’s technology-driven society, the Internet has created tremendous opportunities for individuals.

Social media has opened new doors for people to showcase their talents and attract an online following.

Social media has created many new career paths for people to choose from. One of the most popular careers that the Internet has given life to is YouTuber.

For many now-famous celebrities, starting out by putting their stuff online was really the only option.

TMI: Oversharing on Social Media

While social media has created many opportunities and has in a sense made life easier, users must be careful of what they share on social media.

With so many platforms promoting, constant sharing, constant engagement and huge friends and followers to choose from, many users have found themselves oversharing to keep up with expectations.

Oversharing can be a huge turn off for many Internet users, which is why apps like ​Snapchat have popped up to bring a more intimate and minimalist experience.

Say goodbye to storage: Cloud Streaming of Entertainment Media

Many individuals have parted ways with their CDs and DVDs, now that we can get unlimited access to all our entertainment needs through services like Spotify or Netflix.

In this society there really is no need to have a hard copy or digitally downloaded copy of everything when you can stream.

Cloud streaming sure does solve the problem of limited local storage, and it’s one of the fastest growing trends in media consumption today.