Details

Analysis of Pop Culture Discussion Trends and Lifecycles on Reddit

Year: 2026

Term: Winter

Student Name: Tudor Lungu

Supervisor: Alan Tsang / Marco Talarico

Abstract: Trends in popular culture are often varied, and can arise from any number of topics and communities. The variety in which they appear means that discussions about them can last anywhere from a few days to a few months. What fuels whether a trend lasts only a short period of time or longer? One way to examine this question is by looking at trend lifecycles in social media. Specifically, by analyzing the composition of discussions in relation to specific trends to see if elements like cross-community discussion play a role in trend lifecycles. By parsing all Reddit comments for 2025, choosing popular trends from that time period, and constructing discussion breakdown graphs, we will interpret what causes trends to live and to die.