The Viral Instagram 'Until Tomorrow' Challenge That Created Confusion

30/03/2020

When something happens and went viral, the moment can 'infect' the internet. But if the information about the viral thing stops, the viral content that continues can create confusion.

And this happens with the 'Until Tomorrow' challenge.

The challenge asks users to find a silly or embarrassing picture of themselves and post it on their Instagram account with no other context, leaving it there for a 24 hours before it can be deleted. Hence the caption ‘Until Tomorrow’.

But things went viral because many users on Instagram weren't initially aware of the challenge's rules, which require people to join the challenge after liking pictures with the hashtag #untiltomorow.

Consequently, memes of people complaining about the trend started circulating on Instagram and Twitter. And when other users vowed that they would start downloading people's embarrassing posts and use them as memes once the challenge is over, this made the challenge to grow even more popular.

As a result, the challenge also went viral on other social media platforms, including TikTok.

Acha Septriasa - Until Tomorrow challenge
Indonesian actress Acha Septriasa, one out of the hundreds of thousands of Instagram users if not more that participated the 'Until Tomorrow' challenge.

The rules are:

  1. Post an embarrassing, unflattering, funny photograph or series of photos either with ‘until tomorrow’ caption or with #untiltomorrow on your main account.
  2. Leave the post for 24 hours on your account.
  3. Note down the names of the people who liked your post and delete your photograph.
  4. Now send this direct message to everyone who liked your post, “So....you liked my post so you have to post an embarrassing picture of yourself, for the caption you're ONLY allowed to write 'until tomorrow' and you can only tag me."

Among the many people who have reacted to the trend, many refused to take part in it.

Because these people took part in the challenge by posting funny and embarrassing picture of themselves but didn't tag anyone, their posts simply confused many others.

The number of posts using this hashtag kept on increasing, mainly due the fun nature of the challenge, and also because more than a fifth of the world's population are being told to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.