The internet of 2016 was full of bottle flipping, face swaps, strange challenges, and videos filmed vertically for apps that no longer exist. Some of these trends seemed unavoidable for months, spreading from school hallways to celebrity accounts and late-night television. Then the feeds moved on, the apps shut down, and millions of people quietly stopped mentioning them.
These 15 trends once defined daily life online, even if they now feel like artifacts from a much older web.
1. The Mannequin Challenge
INTERNET / VIA REDDIT
For several weeks in late 2016, groups of people froze in increasingly elaborate poses while someone moved through the scene with a camera. Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” became the unofficial soundtrack, and everyone from high school students to professional athletes participated. The challenge worked because it required almost no explanation, yet a well-planned version could look surprisingly impressive. Once the novelty wore off, however, standing perfectly still stopped feeling like essential internet content.
2. Pokémon Go Crowds
THESILPHROADS / VIA REDDIT
When Pokémon Go launched in July 2016, parks and public squares suddenly filled with people staring at their phones and chasing creatures that were not physically there. Rare Pokémon sightings could attract crowds within minutes, while local businesses advertised nearby PokéStops to bring in customers. The game still exists, but the strange early period when entire neighborhoods seemed to be playing together has largely disappeared.
3. The Bottle Flip Challenge
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All it took was a partly filled plastic bottle, a flat surface, and far more patience than the activity deserved. The bottle flip challenge spread through schools, offices, living rooms, and sports locker rooms after a teenager performed a dramatic flip at a talent show. Landing the bottle upright felt satisfying enough to justify dozens of failed attempts. Teachers and parents were considerably less enthusiastic about the constant thudding.
4. Face Swap Photos
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Face-swapping apps briefly convinced everyone that placing a baby’s face on an adult body was the height of comedy. Friends swapped features, families tested the effect on pets, and people pointed their cameras at paintings, dolls, and television screens to see what the software might detect. The results were often distorted, vaguely disturbing, and immediately shared. Better filters eventually arrived, leaving the classic face swap trapped in old camera rolls.
5. “Damn, Daniel”
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A teenager repeatedly complimenting his friend’s white Vans became one of the most quoted videos of the year. The original clips were simple, short, and barely structured, which made their enormous popularity even stranger. “Damn, Daniel” reached television, inspired endless remixes, and reportedly caused demand for white slip-on Vans to surge. Then the phrase vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.
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6. Musical.ly Lip-Sync Videos
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Before TikTok became the default home for short vertical videos, Musical.ly was filled with dramatic lip-sync performances, quick cuts, and carefully rehearsed hand movements. Its young creators, known as “musers,” built audiences by acting out fragments of pop songs and comedy audio. The app later merged into TikTok, but its visual style now feels distinctly mid-2010s. Many former users would probably prefer that their old performances remain buried.
7. The Running Man Challenge
MICHIGANWOLVERINES / VIA REDDIT
Two college basketball players helped turn a loose, bouncing dance into a worldwide trend set to the 1990s song “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJs. Police departments, athletes, students, and celebrities uploaded their own versions, often challenging another group to respond. It was cheerful, easy to copy, and almost impossible to avoid for a few months. Few people have attempted the dance online since.
8. Rainbow Food
FOOD / VIA REDDIT
Bagels, grilled cheese sandwiches, coffee, doughnuts, and nearly anything else that could hold food coloring received a rainbow makeover. The trend was designed for Instagram, where appearance mattered more than whether a multicolored sandwich actually looked appetizing in person. Some creations were playful, while others resembled melted art supplies. Eventually, the internet discovered other ways to make lunch unnecessarily photogenic.
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9. Harambe Memes
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After Harambe, the gorilla was killed at the Cincinnati Zoo in May 2016, the event became the basis for an enormous and increasingly detached meme culture. Online references ranged from sincere criticism to absurd jokes that had almost nothing to do with the original incident. For months, Harambe appeared in comment sections, political jokes, songs, costumes, and unrelated conversations. It remains one of the clearest examples of the internet turning a serious event into something chaotic and difficult to control.
10. The “100 Layers” Challenge
HMMM / VIA REDDIT
Beauty creators began applying 100 layers of nail polish, lipstick, foundation, mascara, or other products to see what would happen. The answer was usually a cracked, sticky, uncomfortable mess. Soon, creators expanded the idea to clothing, wax, face masks, and nearly anything that could be stacked. It was wasteful, oddly mesmerizing, and perfect for a period when exaggerated YouTube challenges drew enormous audiences.
11. Dubsmash Videos
SHIELD / VIA REDDIT
Dubsmash let users record themselves acting out short audio clips from movies, songs, and viral videos. The app became especially popular for group performances, celebrity impressions, and clips filmed during school breaks. Its basic lip-sync concept later appeared in larger platforms with stronger editing tools. Dubsmash itself eventually shut down, taking a very specific kind of 2016 video with it.
12. The Backpack Kid Dance
GIFS / VIA REDDIT
The stiff-armed dance commonly called “the floss” became globally recognizable after teenager Russell Horning performed during a television appearance with Katy Perry in 2017, but his online videos were already spreading in 2016. The movement looked simple until people tried to coordinate their arms and hips at the same time. Children mastered it quickly, while adults usually produced something much less convincing. Fortnite kept it visible for a while, but its peak as an everyday social media dance has passed.
13. The Andy’s Coming Challenge
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Inspired by the toys in Toy Story collapsing whenever their owner approached, participants shouted “Andy’s coming!” and dropped to the ground as if suddenly lifeless. The joke appeared in classrooms, malls, theme parks, and workplaces, occasionally surprising people who had no idea why everyone had fallen over. It required almost no preparation, which helped it spread. It also gave the internet one more reason to film groups of people lying motionless on public floors.
In the mood for more?
Check out 16 Things From 2016 That Already Feel Like a Different Era, or take a look at 18 Insane Moments That Encapsulate The 2010s. If you want to see some pre-digital nostalgia, you can check out 15 Things People Paid for in the 90s That Feel Absurd Now.
