Journalism of Courage
The year 2016 has indeed proved to be a year in which what happened on social media dominated discussions in the public arena and vice-versa. It also emerged as the year when social media activism reached its highest point so far with innocent animals being rescued because of the good Samaritans present in the web space. And while a lot of viral pictures and videos lead to useful consequences, there were many that made people laugh. If nothing, Twitterati kept themselves busy with caption contests. Believe it or not, Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be tagged social media star of the year only because of the number of his pictures that went viral. Check out 26 pictures of 2016 that were massively shared on social media.
The picture shows PM Modi walking behind President Barack Obama and whoever the photographer was, managed to get the right frame captured – that showing PM Modi beginning to say something to Obama with a pointed finger. Result? A hilarious photo clicked with perfect timing will end up being fodder for Twitter trolls. Read the full story here.
President Barack Obama meeting President-elect Donald Trump at the White House after his win was indeed one awkward moment. The famous hand-shake and their expressions were priceless.
From G-20 summit, not only did PM Modi's picture with Obama went viral, this one took the Internet by storm as well. Read the full story here.
A spurned lover decided to give it back to the woman who broke his heart, solemnly declaring that “Sonam Gupta bewafa hai” (Sonam Gupta is unfaithful) on a Rs 10 note. In no time, Internet made sure that Sonam comes to represent all the women who have been unfaithful. This was one viral picture which eventually turned into a meme. Read the full story here.
'Bond 007' Pierce Brosnan made news in India this year when he appeared in an advertisement for Pan Bahaar. He later disassociated himself from the brand after drawing a lot of flak on social media. People couldn't get over the picture. Read the full story here.
On October 9, Shroff tweeted a picture of him wearing all black from tip to toe standing one-leg-up. the picture set Twitter on fire and the micro-blogging site was full of memes and edited photos of the actor. Read the full story here.
Recently, PMO India tweeted a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting a delegation of Congress leaders led by the party’s Vice President Rahul Gandhi after he said he'll reveal Modi 'personal corruption' which will lead to political 'earthquake'. The picture went viral with captions that'll leave you in splits. Read the full story here.
Wrestler Khali met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 1 and tweeted a picture from the meeting in which the two can be seen greeting each other. The picture went viral on social media people have given their own captions to it. Read the full story here.
The discussion around demonetisation has been dominating social media ever since its announcement on November 8. This image went viral which aptly depicts the situation of the country. Captioned, “Finally, NASA has released recent image of India,” the image shared by Twitter user @iamGinjanGrunge that caught the attention of many. Read the full story here.
This tweet made from UP Tourism's official account went viral because of the unimaginable English put in it. "The unbeaten sagacious astuteness of #Varanasi is no less than a figurine of rectitude for the people. #ReasonstoUP." Really? Read the full story here.
Prime Minister Modi posted a couple of pictures of himself on Twitter from his visit to Naya Raipur where he launched the Nandan Van Jungle Safari. Much like Modi’s other unusual pictures, these too subsequently went viral on the Internet and people on social media are had a ball giving them different captions. Read the full story here.
This year Prime Minister Modi joined the ranks of prominent world leaders when his wax figures took up residence at Madame Tussauds branches in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. The reactions to the picture left people in splits. Read the full story here.
The picture was clicked at Vice-President Hamid Ansari's book launch. The event was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was caught unawares by a photojournalist probably while intently listening to the speakers at the event. People had a blast when the picture reached the Internet. Read the full story here.
And the most recent picture to have caught the fancy of the Indian twitterati is one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi looking sternly at the camera, with former PM Manmohan Singh behind him, then senior Bhartiya Janata Party member and MP LK Advani and lastly Union finance minister Arun Jaitley. Read the full story here.
The picture of Michelle Obama and Melania Trump posted on the Internet left Netizens in splits. People couldn't stop drawing a comparison between the FLOTUS and FLOTUS-to-be – style, fashion, background and of course speeches. No one has forgotten how Melania Trump plagarised Michelle Obama’s speech and slammed her for lack of originality then. Read the full story here.
When the FLOTUS Michelle Obama hugged former US president George W Bush at the opening of the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Internet just lost it. Read the full story here.
Internet had a field day with Best Actor winner Leonardo DiCaprio’s surprised eye-roll after Lady Gaga grazed his arm on her way to accept her trophy at the Golden Globes. Read the full story here.
This is the photograph of a young woman – who looks very much like Jayalalithaa – started doing the rounds on social media. The woman, dressed in a green sari, was rumoured to be the former CM’s ‘secret daughter’. Obviously, she's not. Read the full story here.
Huma Mobin and Arsalaan Sever Butt got married a couple of months ago after dating for two years. And what was supposed to follow was a fairy-tale honeymoon to Greece! Only that it did not quite work out that way, at least technically, thanks to the Greece Embassy because of which Butt was not granted his visa in time. Mobin clicked some hilariously cute pictures, many in which she extends her arm as if Butt was right beside her. Look at the photos here. -the arjun kamath series:
This girl who slept inside what looks like a library and was caught on camera unawares. User theshitclockisticking uploaded her picture on Reddit and then there's no stopping a photoshop battle. Read the full story here.
On November 7, a picture was clicked by Indian Express photojournalist Abhinav Saha, which has become symbolic of how polluted the Capital is. The picture, which shows toxic froth on the river Yamuna coming towards devotees who had gone to pray to the sun god as part of the Chhath festival, was clicked early in the morning at Okhla Barrage. Read the full story here.
Zeev Farbman, CEO and co-founder of photography app Lightricks, was caught sleeping in office by his employees, who decided to click their boss and take him — his peacefully sleeping photo, that is — for a series of fascinating adventures. Look at the photoshop battle here.
Baba Ramdev had featured on the cover of English language magazine – in a version of the Prasarita Padottanasana, or wide-legged forward bend- and Twitterati couldn’t help but react to it in the funniest way possible. Read the full story here.
This year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited Goa where he was welcomed with a flower headgear which look nothing less than Sanpchat filter took some courage which Kejriwal has in abundance. And wearing that, how could he not get the attention on Twitter! Read the full story here.
Bengaluru-based photographer Arjun Kamath narrated gripping story of 'Avani' who was caught in patriarchy through powerful pictures. The photostory was uploaded online and immidiately went viral. Check out the photostory here.
