Top ten social picks of the year

The Blue whale challenge was developed by a Russian psychology student, Philipp Budeikin. The participant is given 50 challenges, of which the last is to kill self. The challenges are apparently designed according to the location of the participant and cannot be left midway. The administrators cannot be contacted. They reportedly discover depressed youngsters on the internet and expose them to the challenge. The inventor supposedly said in a statement that this ‘game’ is to ‘clean’ the society of the people who are of no use.

Watch: What is the Blue Whale Challenge?

The alleged love affair between Kangana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan that began around the time the two worked together in Krrish 3 and their rumoured split continued to be the buzzing gossip in Bollywood. The stars refused to address the issue publicly. The issue came into the limelight again after Kangana in an interview said, she had refused to take up a role against Hrithik in another film.

Gurmehar Kaur, a student of Delhi University is the only Indian in the list of Time magazine’s Next generation Leaders 2017. In February, she posted a photo of herself on social media holding a placard that read, “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone." This was to raise her voice against the violence in the campus involving Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. A video of her promoting peace between India and Pakistan showed her holding a placard saying, "Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him," also went viral on social media.

The incidents of braid chopping were reported by women from different parts of the country, leaving the authorities clueless. Doctors and experts believed it to be a mass hysteria, known as a dissociative reaction in psychiatric terminology. Police seemingly tried to educate people and nab the ones who were spreading rumours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pre-political life, apparently the life of a ‘chai-wala’, was flared up time and again by the opposition. The mockery led Congress to no good, instead added another wing to BJP bucket-list in condemning the opposition. Social media, mainly Twitter was flooded with ‘chai-wala’ memes, tilting political sentiments to PM Modi.

Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as the lead singer for the rock band Linkin Park and was an icon to a horde of ardent followers around the world. A number of people across the globe were left shell-shocked after the singer committed suicide by hanging himself at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California and tributes for the singer flooded the internet in the weeks to follow.

Reports of Don Dawood Ibrahim dying of heart attack or new Rs 2000 notes having a nano-chip to track black money went viral in 2017 on social media platforms. The deliberate churning of fake news, largely on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, were mostly done to spread factually incorrect and fabricated rumours. They imparted underlying agendas like communal hatred, anti-nationalistic sentiments and political ideologies.