The Mannequin Challenge is a trending online phenomenon that has taken over social media platforms, especially Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. A Boolean search performed on Sysomos of “mannequin AND challenge” and “#mannequinchallenge” brought up the tweets that had been interacted with and mentioned the most. The most interacted-with tweet was a Police Mannequin Challenge, which took a social justice stance on the viral video structure. The second most interacted-with tweet was a more comedic, albeit cringeworthy, Mannequin Challenge, where a woman finds her boyfriend talking to another woman on the phone and he attempts to use the Mannequin Challenge to evade her wrath. Both tweets can be found below.
This viral video challenge has been approached from all angles, which was the motivation to discover more about it. Everything from the Back Lives Matter Movement and the participants in the 2016 Presidential Election to social figures such as Blac Chyna and Taylor Swift, have taken on this challenge with different intentions. The connotations of these videos range from comedic relief to social justice, and they have had impactful responses from the online social media community.
Consequently, the geographical and gender distribution of the challenge across social media is representative of a relatively cohesive group of social media users. The Sysomos search revealed that the interactions with these tweets were 47% male and 53% female, and that the United States had participated in the challenge the most, representing 60.2% of interactions. The skewed significances of the various Mannequin Challenge videos found online have been made more impactful for their underlying implications.
Sysomos Analysis of the Mannequin Challenge:
#sysomos analysis of the #mannequinchallenge for #nhbuzzfeed @NewhouseSU pic.twitter.com/TdMANfRKwZ
— Naomi Clarke (@xnaomiclarke) November 29, 2016
Police Officer Mannequin Challenge Tweet & Analytics:
This is so powerful. The best mannequin challenge I saw. pic.twitter.com/ToSsR2Wxth
— KB. (@whereesKB) November 10, 2016
Cheater Mannequin Challenge Tweet & Analytics:
He just got caught on the phone with another girl and did the mannequin challenge to try to get out of it 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/CCNC87iFnk
— trish✨ (@PaTrishaRuff) November 7, 2016
Twitter Spike Analysis & Gender Breakdown of “Mannequin Challenge:”
Timeline Representation of Popularity of the “Mannequin Challenge” on Twitter:
