My original 50 viral images (and how they spread) post turned out to be extremely successful and was read quite a few times to say the least.  I was surprised so many people were interested as the images in there had already been passed around social media to death.

With that said, I failed to consider most people don’t spend nearly as much time on the web as I do.

Seeing as the first viral images post was published June 15, 2008 we’re passed due for a fresh one.

Again, as I said in the previous post:

Unfortunately due to the nature of images on the web (images being copied, posted without attribution, shared via email and public hosting services, being submitted anonymously, rexmied, etc.) it is difficult for me to give proper attribution of these images. If I posted one of your images and you’d like a link or attribution, please drop me a line and I will add that. Notice many people embed their website URL or source directly into the image. This is a smart move and is a great way to make it easy for people to share your image yet retain proper attribution.

I hope you will click the link in the first sentence of this post, as part one explains the point of these posts – to give you a quick snapshot of the types of images being viewed and shared hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of times.

Images are perhaps the most powerful form of content to spread on the web due to their portability, instant gratification, and impact.  Studying the images that resonate is vital to learn how you can package your own ideas in similar formats to successfully spread.

Fair warning:  if you spend as much time as I do immersed in web culture, then many of these images won’t be new to you.

Let’s get right into it – I used a few subheads this time to separate these a bit, and added captions above images and credit below (where available):

Infographics, charts and graphs:


found via monster-munch.com


credit:  David Armano

Difference between a stone and an iphone

Average IQ’s across professions

via Neatorama

Making fun of pie charts is a classic

Devolution of philosophy?

The Rubik’s Cube, solved

found via Gizmodo

PC > Mac:

Webcomics

From XKCD, a popular webcomic

Unknown, but great

From Gaping Void

from PHDComics.com

Printed stuff

Physics isn’t that hard…

You can’t blame the kid, too good a setup

Creative ad for Career Junction:

Exactly…

I love this campaign

LOLcats make it off the internet, and into the comics

Just read

Old ads are another classic viral image

How is it even possible to make this mistake?

Don’t mess with geeks:

Weather and nature images

Tandem cyclones

image via nasa.gov

Amazing walls of snow

No escape…

image credit:  focuswildlife.com

We need to talk…

Clouds attacking the mountain

A school of stingrays

When waves collide

found via jpgmag.com

Nice timing

Stunning tree, just beautiful

What do you think – Photoshopped or not?

Everything else

Just an awesome photo

Something isn’t right about this one…

Self-fulfilling prophecy?

You can do it little buddy

Not sure what they thought would happen by doing this

Great advertising by 3M – that is real money in there, they definitely believe in the product

found via 37 signals

Why you can’t trust automated translators

found via AdWeek

Just a normal work lunch

Chicago from above

Tijuana meets San Diego

Shuttle launch

image credit: nasa.gov

Beware of the sign

found via latimes.com

That’s got to be the weirdest Ebay feedback I’ve ever seen

Windows vista source code released

Great analogy

Clever clever…

Wait, what?


Related posts from The Future Buzz

50 Stunning Images From Flickr Under Creative Commons

22 Smart, Inspiration Quotes From Bloggers In 2008

25 Examples Of Clean, Effective And Beautiful Web Design

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40 Incredible Near-Infrared Photos (Smashing Magazine)

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20 Beautiful HDR Pictures (Abduzeedo)