Before we begin, we should probably get one thing out of the way: any image that you are seeing on the social web, which is generating a lot of comments, shares or views, is technically trending on the social web. Since social media is so expansive and popular, content may “trend” a lot easier than it did before.
That isn’t to be confused with viral content, which has reached a status that is so pervasive that it is impossible to ignore. If you have seen more than, say, five people on your friends’ list share the same photo in the last couple of weeks, it is safe to assume the image is viral. If you see something shared on George Takei’s Facebook page, it is trending.
Now that we have stated those – probably not really exactly accurate – definitions of popular content on two levels, we can look at using trending visual content yourself.
Why Visual Content?
Using trending visual content is an easy way to take something that has already captured the interest of people online (so you know it will be popular), and taking advantage of that. For example, you can use a currently trending meme as a heading image for a blog post, which then shows up on your social media stream when you share it. People recognize that image, so they take notice right away.
