In Mike's opinion, bizarre photos can make us stop our scrolling and do a double-take. "Weirdness, or uniqueness, is one of the driving forces behind internet popularity," he told Bored Panda.
He noted that there's an over-saturation of content online and many of us can feel like there's nothing new to be seen or experienced on the internet. "In a 'seen it all' world, seeing something you’ve never seen before, tends to really pop and grab attention," Mike said.
According to Mike, if we want to be original, we can't pander to anyone else, which is thoroughly exhausting. Instead, we must focus on who and what we're truly like. "There’s only one way to truly be original on social media, and that’s to be authentic and just be yourself. Be confident in knowing there’s only one you, let your own original content speak for itself," the LA-based expert shared with Bored Panda.
"Trying to outcompete the competition and chase internet popularity, is just going to lead to frustration and burnout. If you’re not having fun while you’re posting, and your content seems inauthentic, you’ll lessen your chances of going viral. 'Do you,' and let luck and timing control the rest."
Though things might seem clear and simple, r/2healthbars isn’t focused on content that is simply a photo of two identical or very similar things next to each other. The subreddit’s mods explain that at the core of the subreddit lies the idea of transformation.
“We are about one thing that exists, that thing gets defeated, that thing has a physical or perceived transformation, and that thing, after this reveal/transformation, reveals a second layer of life (a new health bar),” they explain. Or, as they summed things up: “One item, four steps.”
Currently, the subreddit is home to just over 494k members. The community has grown to such a size in just over 4 years, since having been founded in late March, 2017.
For any fresh-faced redditors who are thinking of joining r/2healthbars, you should definitely have a thorough read through all of their rules. The moderators have even typed up a handy wiki with various clarifications. It’s detailed and will most likely help you get settled in quicker.
#7 Today My Boyfriend Accidentally Broke The Ear Off Of His Dog Statue, Which He’s Had For Twelve Years, And Discovered Another Smaller Dog Inside… I Have So Many Questions
Naturally, all the content that you share on r/2healthbars has to be relevant to the subreddit. However, there might be some confusion about where exactly the line lies between photos that fit the spirit of the community and images that, for whatever reason, fall short of this.
The moderators stress the fact that all of the photos need to have a “physical or perceived transformation” that then reveals a second layer, aka “a new health bar.” Duplicates of the same thing don’t technically count as being in line with r/2healthbars.
What you need to focus on is a single thing, one item that transforms, not two items that are independent of each other. “One layer of life can't exist at the same time as the other, one has to be defeated,” the mods explain.
Even though something might be ironic, like two coffee shops of the same brand being next to each other, it doesn’t automatically mean that it’s worthy of r/2healthbars. The subreddit has a neat list of things that might sound like they fit the spirit of the sub but should be avoided.
Things that should be avoided include: someone or something holding a thing that is holding a thing; two people wearing the same thing, pictures of a thing next to itself, a sticker under a sticker, a mask under an identical mask, or a camera attached to a camera. Unfortunately, doors behind doors also don’t count!
As the subreddit has grown to quite a size, the moderators have started taking a different approach to what kind of content they let through and which posts they remove. Currently, they’re focusing on increasing the number of high-quality photos and filtering out low-effort and/or low-quality content.
“Content posted on our subreddit should resemble something new and original. It's low effort when you have posted something that is comparable to, but is not as good as, already existing content on the subreddit,” they explain.
If something looks dull, unappealing, or generally brings the quality of the community down, the mods have the power to remove it. “In this past year, this sub has grown in size. No longer are the days when literally all the posts were about ‘seeing double’ of something. In fact, we are trying to move forward from that kind of content. In the past, we didn't remove low-quality content because that would ultimately kill the sub. Now is the time for change,” they explain their reasoning.
