The #neknominate trend is heading for domination as the practice of chugging a beer, filming it, and roping in friends to take part grips Australia.
The trend which started in the UK in January last year has become a “full blown craze” Down Under, according to an analysis by WeAreSocial’s Brad Buzzard.
However the #neknominate trend could be on its way out as the trend line below shows.
The social game has inundated Facebook and Twitter feeds as partakers, typically young men, film themselves ‘skolling’ a beer before nominating two friends to take part.
The hashtag has appeared regularly online since January 2013 and, as the tweet-location cloud below shows, it clearly started in London.
Location of #neknominate tweets between January 1,2013 – January 2, 2014:
“It became a ‘craze’, however, beginning on January 3, 2014, where it took off big time in Melbourne,” Buzzard, senior analyst at WeAreSocial, told B&T.
The #neknominate tweet-location cloud now looks like this: Location of #neknominate tweets between January 3, 2014 – January 6, 2014
The videos of #neknominations are becoming more outlandish as participants move to outdo each other with #extremeneknominations now taking hold.
Videos of people sculling alcohol while driving a car – one even #neknominated the Victoria Police (video below) – have appeared online, as have videos of #neknominations on bikes and surf boards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC7i1BfWjbA
“It is hard to determine the exact moment #necknominate took off in Australia, and what caused it,” Buzzard said.
“But we do know that a Facebook page set up on January 2 has more than 4,000 fans and quite a few videos of Aussies skolling beers. A similar page has more than 15,000 fans, but was set up days later.” See one of the #neknominate Facebook pages here.
