Journal of Communication, 2025, 00, 1–9

https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf029
Original Article

What is a trend?
Devon Powers1,�

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1
Department of Communication and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
�Corresponding author: Department of Communication and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, United States. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Trends are a common feature in the contemporary media and cultural environment as well as media and communication research. Yet trends re­
main undertheorized. This article seeks to address this gap. Rather than just a synonym for shift or change, I define trend as a temporally
bounded, dynamic pattern of observable change and argue that such a concept deserves greater prominence within the study of media and
communication. In addition to this definition, I theorize trends by characterizing the trend’s key features, exploring its relationship to media, and
mapping its connection to questions that animate media and communication research. The case of “brat summer” of 2024 is offered as an
exemplary case from which trend’s core features may be discerned. The article’s primary contribution is to advance the trend as a central
concept through which communication and media studies researchers may think more comprehensively and critically about change.
Keywords: trend, social media, media, mediatization, fashion, brat, change

What is a trend? acted upon. Yet if trends are a “form” that media can take,
trends are also a type of “content” that passes through other
What is a trend? Answering that question isn’t as straightfor­
media—including journalism, television, music, advertising,
ward as it might seem at first. For example, at the University
social media, and data. These factors make trends a worthy
of Michigan, I teach a class called “Trends in Consumer
object of critical inquiry within the field of communication
Culture.” Many students enroll with the understanding that a
and beyond.
trend is “something on TikTok”—the nonstop barrage of
This article is in the service of that project. It endeavors to
dances, looks, jokes, and more (though, at the time of this
conceptualize and theorize “trend” as a significant concept
writing, TikTok’s fate in the United States is uncertain).
within the study of media and communication. It will define
From the view of fashion or design, a trend might be a predi­
what a trend is, characterize its key features, and map its con­
lection toward a particular aesthetic—barrel-cut jeans or fur, nection to questions that animate media and communication
deep mauve or dark wood. In demographics, one might talk research. As I will showcase below, media and communica­
about trends in industrialized nations toward having fewer tion research already grapples with trends in many ways, yet
children or living alone; in politics, trends like authoritarian­ so far, the concept of trend remains a victim of its normality
ism or anti-establishment sentiment have grown entrenched and ubiquity. This article wants to change that state of
worldwide. Our age endures economic trends and exercise affairs: by defining and denaturalizing trends, we may better
trends; trendy restaurants and haircuts and dog breeds; understand them and account for the impact they are having
“trending” songs, recipes, videos, and slang. In these cases, within our hypermediated environment.
trends point to what people are doing “right now” but also The next section will define trends, drawing from literature
to how that now compares to what came before it—better or from both within and beyond communication to articulate a
worse, higher or lower, or simply different. Indeed, it is diffi­ broad concept that addresses a range of usages and applica­
cult to think of an institution, cultural form, social phenome­ tions. The second section will theorize trend, identifying its
non, or consumer good where “trend” is not used to talk central characteristics as well as its general function as per­
about its changes over time. tains to media. I will explore the case of “brat summer,” a
That “trend” has many meanings is a problem of commu­ 2024 trend in music and culture, to help illustrate these prop­
nication but not a unique one. Many commonplace words erties. This section will also further situate trends among
have multiple, overlapping, even conflicting meanings. That related concepts in communication and media studies. The
trend has such wide application, though—that it illustrates final section will summarize this article’s core arguments, re­
something essential about change, and perhaps about our flect on what trends may tell us about our hypermediated era,
era—presents a different, newer, and more noteworthy prob­ and posit how trends may help communication and media
lem, not just of communication, but for communication and studies think about change more generally.
its study. I comprehend that problem as the result of trend’s As a qualitative scholar, the considerations here draw from
emergence as a key feature of the contemporary media, and largely apply to qualitative, critical/cultural research,
cultural, and information environment. Rather than just a though I also consider quantitative scholarship to make cer­
synonym for shift or change, increasingly “trend” names a tain points, and I believe the trend concept has relevance for
particular genre or phenomenon of change, one that is depen­ the discipline broadly conceived. This article focuses mostly
dent upon and featured within media; trend is a form through on Anglo-American popular and consumer culture and their
which cultural dynamism can be observed, understood, and attendant literatures. That said, these phenomena affect

Received: 26 August 2024. Revised: 23 May 2025. Accepted: 6 June 2025

© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of International Communication Association. All rights reserved. For commercial
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2 Powers

many industrialized and hypermediated societies, albeit to (2023) exploration of the “fox eye” trend examines how
differing extents and with different repercussions. Asian users engaged in digital activism to challenge the
trend’s racism. Tao and Ellison (2023) interview adolescent
women about their social media sharing practices through
Defining trend the lens of the “Make Rinsta (Real Instagram) Casual Again”
The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (n.d.) trend. Girginova (2020) examined the trending topic
offers several definitions of the word “trend,” including “the #Rio2016 on Twitter/X for what it revealed and concealed
general course, tendency, or drift”; “to be currently preva­ about global audiences. Other scholars have used daily

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lent, popular, or fashionable”; “to analyse (data) in order to Twitter/X trends (e.g., Jaidka et al., 2019), or Google search
detect or study a trend or trends”; and “a topic or subject trends (e.g., Bennett et al., 2018; Phelan, 2019) as an element
that generates a large amount of social media activity over a of an examination of content flows, political civility, or right-
short time period” or an instance thereof. Each of these wing rhetoric; these are, of course, not the only possible uses.
understandings is common within contemporary parlance as A second class of trend research in communication is what I
well as within scientific and social scientific research. When will call trend-general research, which uses the term “trend”
we speak of the trend toward political polarization, for exam­ to speak about changes over time. Here I point to surveys of
ple, that might connote a general course or drift. Mocha long-term or emergent shifts in media (e.g., Chalaby, 2019),
Mousse, Pantone’s 2025 color of the year, is an earth tone—a meta analyses or histories of research (Walter et al., 2018;
trend that is, at the time of this writing, considered fashion­ Zhu et al., 2024), and the like. Unlike the trend-specific re­
able or popular (Pressman, 2024). The analysis of inflation search, trend-general works use trends as a heuristic. While
numbers over time could reveal a trend in the data—going up trend-general work is fundamentally about a trend, it usually
in some areas, down or flat in others. And the “very demure, does not question what a trend is or means. Therefore, in
very mindful” trend of 2024—a satirical TikTok video by both the trend-specific and the trend-general cases, trends are
trans creator Jules LeBron—is a trend on social media that tools rather than objects of inquiry. While these works do
generated plentiful activity (Zahn, 2024). These definitions help expand understanding of trends in a general sense and
cover a lot of ground. What is missing is a vector to connect show that communication scholars have found trends useful
them, in ways that might illuminate shared qualities and to think with, conceptualizing trends ipso facto is at best a
thereby function as an academic concept. Additionally, the secondary concern (see also Stanyer and Mihelj, 2016 for
definitions about social media and data have been added to their overview of trend research in communication).
the OED in the last decade—one indication of evolving cul­ For substantive treatment of trends as a concept, one must
tural circumstances, novel understandings, and heightened look beyond communication and media studies. It makes
presence of trend that might occasion new scholarly sense to first turn to trend studies, sometimes known as
conceptions. “trend sociology.” Because the field is small, a few words of
In the most comprehensive work to date within the disci­ background are in order. Largely centered in Europe, trend
pline of communication, Powers (2019, p. 7) defines trends studies is an applied, primarily qualitative approach that
as a “impermanent cultural changes that indicate a trajectory draws from cultural studies, marketing, anthropology, de­
of social influence.” Her focus is primarily on how trends are sign, and future studies to identify trends, which may then be
used as an apparatus to commodify future cultural change, used to advise the strategic planning and cultural initiatives
especially within the industry of trend forecasting. While this of businesses, institutions, and government entities. Trend
definition and perspective is useful, it is incomplete. It misses, studies is thus in very close proximity to commercial usages
for one, the enormous impact trends have had within social of trends such as trend forecasting and brand advisement
media and, in turn, the wider media and cultural landscape in (Pinheiro Gomes et al., 2018, pp. 84, 86). As a result, most
recent years. Likewise, it fails to consider how trends operate foundational work in trend studies has been written by prac­
generically—what makes a trend a trend, and how those titioners, who may or may not be affiliated with universities.
qualities might be contrasted with other forms. The question Among that body of work, Vejlgaard’s (2008) study of trend
of trend’s generic aspects also concerns not just how the form anatomy has been highly influential. Vejlgaard understands a
circulates across time (as prioritized in questions about futu­ trend as “not something that has happened, but rather a pre­
rity), but also how trends circulate across space, industry, me­ diction of something that is going to happen in a certain
dium, object, and social group. Powers has acknowledged the way—specifically, something that will be accepted by the av­
importance of this view through other work. For example, erage person” (p. 7, emphasis original). Vejlgaard under­
her 2022 article on trend journalism defines it as interpretive stands trends as beginning among select facets of the
stories “that attempt to identify, explain, and analyze emer­ population—known variously as innovators, inventors, or
gent contemporary phenomena” (Powers, 2022, p. 1436); trend creators—and moving to others, assisted along the way
she examines the history, ubiquity, and epistemological by trendsetters. The progression of trends is one of ebb and
implications of trend journalism’s proliferation. That trends flow, where a phenomenon starts small, escalates, then
exist in both cultural forecasting and journalism suggests not recedes. Vejlgaard argues that the process of trends is a
only that they operate in multiple terrains, but that under­ “sociological pattern that has been going on for centuries”
standing more about trends might highlight common charac­ (p. 193). Also writing from the vantage of trend studies,
teristics of change. Cramer et al. (2016) explain that “a trend is never (physi­
Other research in communication on trends tends to fall cally) tangible, it is a social construct (made by humans). It is
into two categories. First is what I’ll term trend-specific re­ a direction in which society or a certain industry is expected
search: work that identifies a particular trend (often on social to move. As such, a trend is a statement about a future situa­
media) and uses it to make broader arguments about culture, tion that one expects, hopes or even fears will emerge” (p.
society, and/or social media. For example, Zhao and Abidin’s 43). The authors identify seven dimensions of a trend
Journal of Communication (2025), Vol. XX, No. X 3

including that trends are about change and newness; that idea of trends, finding them bland, boring, or too mainstream
they relate to the future; that they are uncertain; and that (Lantz, 2016, p. 5), something can be a trend without being
they produce countertrends, or backlash (pp. 41–43). fashionable, cool, interesting, or even likeable. Fashion and
Fashion studies has also had quite a bit to say about trends. trends misalign just as frequently as they sync. And lastly,
As Lantz (2016) has written, trends “play an organizing role” some things that exhibit cyclic behavior are poorly explicated
in fashion; she notes that “[t]rends make it possible for man­ by the caprice embodied in “fashion.” One would never
ufacturers, designers, buyers and fashion magazine editors to speak of changes in weather, economic, or demographics as
agree on an approximate direction for fashion” (p. 3). Aspers “fashion.” In these cases, “trend” is a steadier term to speak

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(2010) likewise explains that trends are central to the fashion about fluctuations over time.
process, helping to coordinate color, style, and other deci­ Finally, a definition of trends might be served by looking to
sions across the industry (p. 97). While many argue that the how quantitative scholars outside communication define the
role of trends in fashion has changed over time, as Paris loses concept. Scholars across the sciences, math, and computer
its central role as an arbiter of fashion and as streetwear, fast science also study trends, as do quantitative social scientists.
fashion, and other “bottom up” stylings compete with Here, as is the case in qualitative social science, trends are
“high” fashion and runways (Garcia, 2022, pp. 437–438), usually a tool for seeing commonalities or dynamics in data.
trends still have a powerful role in design, retail, marketing, Take, for instance, time series analysis. Time series analysis is
and consumer choice. Likewise, as more industries recognize an umbrella term that accounts for how data may change
the power of fashionabilty and visuality, not only do trends over time, taking into consideration that “data points taken
in fashion resonate elsewhere, but the entire trend apparatus over time may have an internal structure” (NIST, 2019) in­
has been imported into a growing number of industries. For cluding things like seasonal variability and exogeneity.
example, Aspers (2010) explains that people outside the fash­ Within this research area, trend analysis or trending is a fea­
ion industry attend fashion trade shows “to pick up trends” ture of time series analysis, where trends represent a particu­
(p. 3). In light of these and other developments, we can now lar type of change over time. In an influential discussion,
say that everything from houseplants to automobile colors Chatfield (1996) describes a trend as a “long-term change in
follow trends (Jordison, 2025, BASF, n.d.). the mean level” within a time series (p. 10). What one means
It is no surprise, then, that “fashion” and “trend” are by “long term” is up for discussion, however; a sufficiently
sometimes conflated. In the classic social scientific literature long enough time window may show that what looks like an
on the topic, fashion is synonymous with change and ephem­ upward trend is in fact an oscillation. Acknowledging this
erality (Sapir, 2020 [1931]; Simmel, 1957[1904]); as Blumer limitation, Chatfield encourages researchers to look for
(1969) writes, fashion is “is always modern; it always seeks trends anyway, because they are relatively uncomplicated, de­
to keep abreast of the times” (1969, p. 283). Fashion there­ scriptive, and can provide a general understanding of the fac­
fore sometimes becomes a shorthand that means “change,” tors at play (pp. 9, 10).
crowding out other concepts. Blumer, for example, rightfully Among quantitative researchers and data analysts, what
claims that fashion can “influence vitally the central content counts as a trend is often assumed. Wu et al. (2007) explain
of any field in which it operates” (Blumer, 1969, p. 276). that “[t]he terms ‘trend’ and ‘detrending’ frequently are en­
Likewise, as Degen (2023) has argued, “If we define fashion countered in data analysis” yet “[b]ecause the concept of a
narrowly as dress, or perhaps as shorthand for the garment trend in a data set seems clearly self-evident, most data ana­
industry, its influence … is readily evident. But if we expand lysts take it for granted and only few bother to examine the
our understanding of the term to encompass the concept of essence of it or to define it rigorously” (p. 14889). As a result
continuous obsolescence—of cyclic and supplanting styles— “a rigorous and satisfactory definition of either the trend of
its influence on consumerism becomes still more acute” nonlinear nonstationary data or the corresponding detrend­
(Degen, 2023, p. 34). If fashion symbolizes recurrent change ing operation still is lacking” (p. 14889). The authors pro­
dynamics across a wide range of contexts, is a conceptualiza­ ceed to provide that missing definition, defining trends in a
tion or theorization of trends even necessary? few different ways, including “a straight line fitted to the
My answer is yes, and I can offer a few reasons why. First, data” and “the result of a moving mean of the data” (pp.
fashion has a symbiotic relationship with trends. As Blumer 14889–14890).
(1969) notes, fashion trends “signify a convergence and In the sciences and social sciences, trends are both omni­
marshalling of collective taste in a given direction and thus present and invisible. They are omnipresent because so much
pertain to one of the most significant yet obscure features in research attempts to track two things that are essential to
group life” (p. 283). Trends are the fulcrum around which trends, namely change over time and patterns. Trend is, of
fashion spins; fashion, in turn, is the drive that animates course, not the only way to talk about either patterns or
trends. Such a link suggests that even if they work together, change. But the unique yet basic way in which “trend” can
they ultimately are distinct. Fashion signifies change, but communicate both means one will find the word throughout
trend speaks to a particular pattern of change and provides a a wide range of social scientific and scientific research. To
sense of time horizon, even if that time horizon is variable or wit, Altehenger et al.’s generative characterization of trends
unknown. These qualities point to a second justification for as “some of the most visible manifestations of changes within
thinking about trend independently, and that is its relatively and between different popular cultures” arises from transcul­
concrete nature. In many ways, trends objectify or pin down tural studies (Altehenger et al., 2011, p. 140); Altehenger is
the fashion impulse, at least momentarily; trends are what­ herself a historian. Much research in history, anthropology,
ever you are doing at a given moment to project fashionable­ economics, sociology, cultural studies, and communication
ness. Thirdly, and somewhat paradoxically, trend can and media studies can be said to be dealing, in one way or an­
communicate currency absent any statement about taste, other, with trends. But in the same way that all research that
value, or aesthetics. Just as some fashion elites recoil from the uses the word “economy” is not economics, most research
4 Powers

that examines trends is not really about trends; rather, it New York Times published “It’s the Summer of Brats,” about
takes the concept of a trend for granted to talk about patterns the release of Brat, the new album by British singer Charli
of change in something else. The omnipresence of the word XCX. As reporter Emma Madden explained, the album
dilutes trend’s uniqueness and potency, posing challenges for “ushered in not only a slate of potential songs of the summer,
anyone who seeks to theorize trend on its own terms. Put but also an intense identification with the term–and a shift in
plainly, in most situations, trend is simply a synonym for mind-set” (Madden, 2024), highlighting the presence in pop­
“shift” or “tendency.” And the place where trends are most ular culture of a new style of irreverent womanhood. Around
vigorously conceptualized, trend studies, sits mostly apart the same time that the album arrived, Gabriel Smith’s novel

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from traditional academic disciplines. Brat and a documentary called Brats—about a group of
Drawing from as well as offering a corrective to the above, young, American actors called the Brat Pack, who were popu­
I will define a trend as a temporally bounded, dynamic pat­ lar in the 1980s—appeared. The reporter used these coinci­
tern of observable change. This definition overarches the dences as evidence of the ascendancy (or re-emergence) of the
denotations of trend mentioned at the opening of this section, brat archetype. Madden also interviewed a music critic, fans
as well as binds the range of approaches suggested within the of Charli XCX, and a member of the musician’s band, who
aforementioned literatures. Thinking about trends as patterns affirmed not just the importance of brat to Gen Z, but also
over time—in data, in media forms, in fashion, and in culture the existence of “brat summer,” with summer being a short­
in general—also helps to recognize the isomorphism and con­ hand for not just the dominant song, but also the dominant
vergence between what happens on social media and what mood of the season.
happens beyond it. That is, while social media trends are rela­ The New York Times article appeared one week after the
tively new (and added to the OED only in 2015), their func­ album debuted. In the ensuing weeks, other publications also
tion both resembles and intensifies how trends operate in analyzed the brat phenomenon, especially as the noxious
other contexts. shade of green that graced the album’s cover became inescap­
Armed with this definition, then, we may now begin to the­ able (Dolan, 2025; Holtermann, 2024; Mendez, 2024;
orize trends: classifying their components and explaining Richards, 2024). “Brat” and “brat summer” reached a fe­
how they work. We may also begin to detail how trends re­ vered pitch when, shortly after Joe Biden dropped out of the
late to key issues within media and communication research, U.S. presidential race in July 2024, Charli XCX claimed that
and what role trends play in media specifically. Kamala Harris, newly anointed as Democratic nominee, was
“brat” (Clarke-Billings, 2024). The Harris campaign swiftly
embraced the color, and brat-green memes, already abundant
Theorizing trend on social media, multiplied (Silva, 2024).
Writing as communication scientists, Levine and Markowitz What does this case elucidate about trend as a form? I have
(2024) maintain that “[t]here is no one definition of commu­ already defined trends as a temporally bounded, dynamic
nication theory, nor can there be, nor should there be” pattern of observable cultural change. This definition, read
(2024, p. 155). Despite or perhaps because of this, DeAndrea against the brat phenomenon, suggests several characteristics:
and Holbert (2017) note that scholars “often fail to convey (a) trends are new and/or novel; (b) trends are patterns that
the precise nature of their theoretical pursuits and how their emerge through observation; (c) trends gain momentum; and
work makes specific theoretical contributions” (p. 168); to (d) trends create interfaces or contexts for interaction.
rectify this, they provide a list of ten pursuits that scholars Following discussion of these characteristics, I will comment
might follow. The list is thorough. It also arises from the per­ on how trends relate to media.
spective of quantitative social science, which has different cri­
teria for theoretical work than qualitative or critical/cultural Trends are new and/or novel
research. As such, I will not go so far as to place this article Trends reflect changes or novelty in the environment. In the
into one of their classifications. Instead, I follow the advice case of brat, the album was new; the other examples that
offered by Ewoldsen et al. (2023), which suggests that “proved” brat existed might not have been new per se, but
authors bear the “burden of proof” in articulating their ap­ they indicated a meaningful difference. That trends can be
proach to theory, including the “ontological and epistemo­ novel but not necessarily new helps to explicate “retro”
logical framework within which their research operates,” and trends in, say, footwear or film; what matters is less that the
“clarifications of what type of theoretical contribution they thing is objectively new, than that it is newly interesting or
are making and/or is achievable within the specific kind or meaningful to the people who encounter it. There are strong
meaning of theory they employ or scrutinize” (p. 535). parallels here with the notion of “innovation” within the dif­
To theorize trends, I draw from John B. Thompson’s fusion of innovation tradition, where Rogers (1962) defines
(2005) work on the “new mediated visibility,” which asks an innovation as “an idea perceived as new by the individu­
“what are the characteristics of this new form” as well as al” (p. 13). Communication research also sometimes uses the
“how does it differ from other forms” (p. 32). This section term “contagion” to reference a new idea or behavior that
will explore those questions as they pertain to trends, with passes through a social system (e.g., Centola, 2021a, p. 81);
the goal of: (a) characterizing the trend and explaining its re­ this too correlates with “trend” as I am characterizing it here.
lationship to other theories and forms important to commu­ Trend may sometimes usefully be thought about as a type of
nication; and (b) providing some general ideas about how innovation or contagion. However, trends have additional
trends function as related to media. In this light, the defini­ features that allow them to reveal phenomena not well-
tional work done above also contributes to the aim of theo­ described by innovation, contagion, or their related litera­
rizing trends I shall continue below. tures. Similarly, debates about network structure (e.g., Goel
The 2024 trend of “brat summer” is an example that will et al., 2016); whether a contagion spreads better from the
help illustrate the core features of trends. In June 2024, the center or the periphery of a network; what characteristics of
Journal of Communication (2025), Vol. XX, No. X 5

a contagion or innovation contribute to its spreading (e.g., example, exploring how media industries succeed or fail in
Centola, 2021a, 2021b); and strong vs. weak ties (e.g., capitalizing on “the moment.”
Granovetter, 1973) are worthwhile conversations that have
transpired within sociometry, network analysis, and various Trends gain momentum
strands of research on influence and opinion (see also Scott, Trends must grow. Trends gain notice as they grow, but
2012). These may become useful to an interdisciplinary or trends also grow because they gain notice. This feedback
multi-method examination of trends, but do not engage with loop is obvious in the case of brat. It reached beyond the con­
some of the fundamental qualitative characteristics that I fines of music to infect youth culture, politics, and fashion,

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raise here. They do not, as a general rule, consider much not to mention social media and journalism. Journalistic cov­
about the historical or temporal context surrounding various erage and social media both reflected and reinforced brat’s
trends (see Stanyer and Mihelj, 2016) or what may be chang­ cultural growth. Similar dynamics are at play with popular
ing about trends given the prevalence of social media, to give hashtags, which attract attention to compel even more people
just a couple of examples of limitations. to use them (Bernard, 2019). Scholarly and applied work in
diffusion, technological adoption, marketing, futures, and
Trends are patterns that emerge through trend studies often assumes that innovation exhibits an S-
observation curve of growth; further empirical research could confirm
In the case of brat, the change embodied in a trend is not iso­ this about trends in certain contexts. That said, an important
lated, but reverberates across the culture, taking shape in dif­ feature of trends as I am conceptualizing them here is that
ferent types of objects. The Brat album, on its own, would they are empirical as well as discursive or interpretive—sto­
not be enough—instead, brat needs to manifest in books, ries told through data or examples. Because trends must be
movies, “mind-sets” and the “summer.” What Madden and observed, choice, time constraints, human error, bias, and/or
other journalists did in calling attention to brat has a great conceptual limitations are an integral part of trend recogni­
deal in common with what happens when algorithms identify tion. Put differently, the subjective or idiosyncratic sense of
trends. As Gillespie (2016) explains, “trending algorithms whether a trend exists or is growing—characteristic of people
calculate the current activity around every post, image, or as much as algorithms or computer programs—is one of the
hashtag, by combining some measure of each item’s popular­ trend’s central, most powerful, and most elusive features.
ity, novelty, and timeliness” (p. 55). The CEO of TikTok, This, too, is evident in the example of brat, which begs the
Shou Chew, said something similar about the app’s famously question of whether brat truly existed, when, and for whom.
addictive algorithm during a TED Talk interview in Among critical/cultural research in communication and
April 2023: media studies, the movement of cultural phenomena across
space is sometimes referred to as “flow,” from Appadurai,
If you liked videos 1, 2, 3, and 4, and I liked videos 1, 2, 3, who referred to it as the circulation or “traffic” of goods,
and 5, maybe he liked videos 1, 2, 3 and 6, now what’s go­ people, and discourse, accelerated by the internet
ing to happen is, because we liked 1, 2, 3 at the same time, (Appadurai, 2010, p. 4). Flows also arise from globalization,
he’s going to be shown 4, 5, 6 and so are we. And you can and particularly matter as they move across national bound­
think about this repeated at scale, in real time, across aries (Appadurai, 1996, pp. 45–56). A separate conception of
more than a billion people. AI and machine learning has flow within that research tradition comes from Raymond
allowed this to be done at a very, very, very big scale. It Williams who conceived of flow as the structure of broadcast
learns the interest signals that people exhibit very quickly programming, particularly on television (2003, pp. 86, 91).
and shows you content that’s really relevant for you … While flow is a promising lens for thinking about cultural
The other thing here is we don’t actually ask you 20 ques­ movement, both concepts lack the specificity, propulsive en­
tions on whether you like a piece of content … We built ergy, and temporal boundedness of trends. Flows need not
that experience organically into the app … By watching a grow like trends. Trends also better lend themselves to think­
video, by swiping it, by liking it, by sharing it, you are ba­ ing about the technological and industrial infrastructures
sically exhibiting interest signals. And what it does mathe­ which drive circulation, popularity, and attention, especially
matically is take those signals, put it in a formula and then on social media.
matches it through pattern recognition. (Chew, 2023)
Trends create interfaces or contexts for action
On TikTok as elsewhere, contemporaneous, evolving pat­ Following from the prior point, one way that trends gain mo­
terns drive trending. Whether accomplished with a complex mentum and attention is by helping to facilitate what others
mathematical formula, a journalist making observations, or do. In the case of brat, this included things like wearing brat
through what an individual encounters in the day-to-day, green, buying or streaming Charli XCX’s album, or creating
trends emerge when people or machines take notice of pat­ a Kamala Harris brat meme. This same feature operates in
terns within their environment, through a process of likening other contexts in which trends function. Consider, for exam­
or connecting discrete objects to one another. Trends are not ple, how trends structure industries by narrowing choices
just observable patterns, then, but are ways of observ­ among a range of possibilities. From popular music to televi­
ing patterns. sion to books to home design, there are, at any given mo­
Trends as observable patterns also harken to concepts ment, numerous directions in which to produce or create. For
from cultural studies including “zeitgeist” (Krause, 2019) producers, trends help set priorities, find inspiration, and tap
and “structure of feeling” (Williams, 2014 [1961]). Both are into the moment or zeitgeist. Trends are advantageous for
ways of approaching the spirit of the times or cultural cli­ consumers, too, insofar as they make it easier to make choices
mates. Future trend research may contribute more precision and to communicate that one’s cultural knowledge is up-to-
to these ideas, particularly their relationship to media—for date. Of course, there may be multiple trends at any given
6 Powers

time; how and whether one knows or choses to follow a trend to Deuze’s (2011) concept of “media life” where life is “lived
is an issue for further study. Yet the way that trends can be in, rather than with, media” (p. 137, emphasis original). Just
instructive for producers, consumers, and commentators is as ideas of being online and offline have blurred, so too does
one of the reasons why they easily lend themselves to com­ mediatization speak to the elastic ways in which mediation
modification. On trend behavior seems to seek attention, becomes an expectation, a prerequisite, and a method of ac­
even if unintentionally. These factors make trends an impor­ counting, experience, and history for everyday life. Trends
tant consideration for scholars of communication and media are fundamentally mediatizing, a means through which life
studies interested in branding and promotional culture (see circulates as and according to the exigencies of media. For

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Lury, 2004; Wernick, 1991). many today, social media are an especially vibrant context in
which to witness and participate in trends.
Trends and media Trend has several sibling concepts that also reveal our
If it hasn’t been clear from the above, media are essential to a highly mediated age. The term “meme” is often used inter­
trend’s existence. There are a few ways to think about media changeably with trend; in recent years, both have become
here. First, consider the McLuhanesque sense, as an paramount to the operation and the discourse of the internet.
“extension” of human characteristics or a tool (McLuhan, Memes “describe small units of culture that spread from per­
1994). Seen in this manner, trends manifest in the media of son to person by copying or imitation” (Shifman, 2014, p. 2).
everyday life around us: architecture, songs, water bottles, As Milner (2016) has proposed, memes are “emerging
toys, or fonts, whether we encounter them online or in real patterns” (p. 1) and memetic media are “aggregate texts, col­
life. But a more limited sense of media, focusing either solely lectively created, circulated, and transformed by countless
on the traditional sense of “message production and circu­ cultural participants” (Milner, 2016, p. 2). Zulli and Zulli
lation” (Turow and Couldry, 2018, p. 421) would still under­ (2022) have argued that TikTok “extends the Internet meme
score the centrality of media to the detection, circulation, to the level of platform infrastructure” (p. 1873) insofar as
interpretation, and promotion of trends; so too would an ex­ the platform encourages mimesis, or imitation and replica­
panded understanding of media that includes technologies of tion. Both colloquially and academically, meme has some­
“data extraction and analysis” alongside those of message times come to signify copying or repetition, in the same way
transmission (Turow and Couldry, 2018, p. 421). Media tell that trend has come to signify change.
us about trends, and media also objectify and communicate The core qualities of trends that I have offered above—
trends to us, through things like magazine articles, fashion their momentum, novelty, emergence through observation,
layouts, television news segments, homepages, and algo­ interactivity, and mediatization—should already be evidence
rithms. Trends may also be thought about as a means of a distinction between a trend and a meme. Yet in day-to-
through which quotidian practice—a group of friends doing day vernacular, the differences are much fuzzier, in part be­
choreography, the silly antics of a pet, whatever you may be cause trends also involve imitation or “catching on.” One of
wearing—circulates as media content. Social media trends the clearest ways to distinguish between the concepts, then, is
obviously work in this way but so do trends that reach us thinking about their temporalities. Trends exist in time. They
through other media, like blogs or photos. Trends are built tell us about “right now” and help guide decisions about
into media infrastructures just as media are built into trend what to do next. Even when discussing a past trend, it is
ecology. Or, stated differently, trends are the form, but they deeply tied to its moment. Trends also always have an expira­
are also the content. tion date. Memes, on the other hand, may certainly exist or
Trends are a component of everyday life for so many in proliferate “in the moment,” such as when something memo­
part because contemporary life is hypermediated—where we rable or funny happens during a live television broadcast. But
are surrounded by and easily access technologies for commu­ memes need not necessarily have such an inherent relation­
nication, vessels for meaning, and nodes for data creation ship to time; memes can also be “timeless” in a way trends
and extraction (Andrejevic, 2013; Turow and Couldry, are not. Another way to think about the distinction is that
2018). These characteristics of trends relate closely to the memes are at their essence texts or collections of texts,
concept of mediatization. While there has been vigorous de­ whereas trends are at their essence phenomena or events. A
bate over what “mediatization” entails (see Couldry & trend is not just the makeup you are wearing—it is that
Hepp, 2013) including concern over its conceptual bagginess makeup look, at that moment. Likewise, as phenomena,
(e.g., Corner, 2018), the term usefully names the increased trends may contain many things which are not texts per se,
presence of media in everyday life and, with that, the height­ such as dance moves, foods, or color schemes.
ened sense that one’s actions should be media ready. Couldry One final media concept with clear overlaps with trends is
and Hepp (2013) contend that mediatization is “a concept virality. Virality references “the process which gives any in­
used to analyze critically the interrelation between changes in formation item (picture, video, text, or any other audio–vi­
media and communications on the one hand, and changes in sual–textual artifact) the maximum exposure, relative to the
culture and society on the other”—that is, the “the broad potential audience, over a short duration, distributed by
consequences for everyday life and practical organization (so­ many nodes” (Nahon et al., 2011, p. 1). Like trend, virality
cial, political, cultural, economic) of media, and more partic­ captures a feature of media circulation. “Going viral” has be­
ularly of the pervasive spread of media contents and come a catchphrase for momentary popularity, achieving the
platforms through all types of context and practice” (pp. proverbial fifteen minutes of fame and, sometimes, trendi­
197, 191). Going further, Hepp (2019) argues that we have ness. Yet there are also important differences. First and most
entered a phase of “deep mediatization,” understood as “an obviously, virality is something that happens to content
advanced stage of the process in which all elements of our so­ whereas, as both noun and verb, trend speaks to the relation­
cial world are intricately related to digital media and their un­ ship between form and content; we say a “viral video” rather
derlying infrastructures” (p. 5). Mediatization is also related than “a viral.” Second, unlike something viral, a trend may
Journal of Communication (2025), Vol. XX, No. X 7

have a much longer lifespan, lasting for months or even years. and Mejias (2019, p. 341) discuss, “digital platforms are the
Finally, though the idea of “going viral” has leaked beyond technological means that produce a new type of ‘social’ for
the internet to convey a general sense of popularity, it is still capital: that is, the social in a form that can be continuously
primarily understood as an online phenomenon, something tracked, captured, sorted, and counted for value as ‘data.’”
that happens to content on the internet. Trends are also Trends are one such strategy that helps to mediatize life as a
strongly influenced by the internet, but they also pre-date it form so that it can be surveilled, extracted, and circulated.
and transcend it. Deciding that something is or isn’t a trend is also a kind of
power that continues to be held by relatively few people, and

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Conclusion amplified by media outlets, algorithms, and platforms.
In a classic work on fads in popular culture, Meyersohn
In sum, trends are temporally bounded, dynamic patterns of and Katz (1957) write that “[t]he study of fads and fashions
observable change. Trends turn new, or newly interesting, may serve the student of social change much as the study of
objects or behaviors into interfaces that facilitate interaction fruit flies has served geneticists: neither the sociologist nor
and choice. Trends happen in time, growing and gaining at­ the geneticist has to wait long for a new generation to arrive”
tention as they circulate; in so doing, they come more fully (p. 594). They also note that “[f]ads provide an extraordinary
into being. In this way, trends are phenomenological and well opportunity to study processes of influence or contagion, of
as discursive. This list of characteristics is a starting point and
innovative and cyclical behavior, and of leadership” (p. 594).
may not be exhaustive. As research on trends grows, scholars
Many scholars have since pursued questions about influence,
may identify additional core characteristics.
contagion, opinion leadership, and innovation for sure, but
As mentioned earlier, central to trends is their flexibility,
the robust study of fads never arrived. Indeed, as Stanyer and
subjectivity, and interpretive nature. A trend that is highly
Mihelj (2016) explain, communication research still has
relevant to one person might be missed entirely by someone
some distance to go to adequately research temporality and
else. Moreover, because trends happen in time, it is possible
for a trend to be relevant to one individual or group before its relationship to change (p. 267). The theorization of trends
another individual or group has been made aware of it. offered here is an effort to make good on both of these pro­
Rather than understand this as a problem, or see trends as so posals. The conception of trends that I offer endeavors to do
much imagination, it should be considered part of what for communication research what trends have done, and con­
makes trends so widely applicable and so powerful. Trends tinue to do, for media more generally: provide useful tools to
apply to a range of shifts and perspectives, as they happen in detect, comprehend, and explain change over time.
time. For this reason, the understanding of trends offered
here aligns with a “processual approach to social change” Data availability
that, as Mihelj and Stanyer (2019) argue, affords communi­
cation researchers a means “to pay greater attention to the No new data were generated or analysed in support of
temporal organization of change” (pp. 495, 497). As the this research.
world changes, so should our models and categories of analy­
sis (see also Abbott, 2001, pp. 37–38, 59); trends can help us Funding
to see and make sense of that change.
Are there more trends now than there were in the past? None declared.
Many observers suggest that this is the case, thanks in no
small part to social media (e.g., Kircher, 2024; Holtermann, Conflicts of interest
2025). Proving that this is the case is beyond the scope of this
essay. Still, it is clear that trends are a major player in media None declared.
of all kinds and, as such, are central in how those media
frame, matter within, and comment upon social life. Media Acknowledgments
use trends to make comments about not just trends them­
selves, but also society writ large. Because of this, trends cap­ I would like to thank Geoff Baym for asking me the question
ture both those who do and do not pay attention to them. that inspired this article. I would also like to thank the anony­
This is not unlike how diffusion of innovation purports to mous reviewers for their generous and generative comments.
say something about those who choose not to accept an inno­
vation as much as it does those who do. These factors give
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