How It Started vs. How It's Going

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About

How It Started vs. How It's Going refers to a Twitter trend in which users upload two sequential images labeled under the text, "How it started," and, "how it's going." The trend began with people sharing images related to their romantic relationships under the text, before users started applying the format to more broad categories, such as self-improvement posts, and ironic parodies of relationship posts. Alternatively, the label "How It Ended" is used in place of "How It's Going."

Origin

On September 23rd, 2020, Twitter user vjillanelles^[1] posted a tweet using the described format, featuring a screenshot of a DM conversation as photo one, and an image of the user and her partner embracing as photo two (shown below). The tweet gained over 25 thousand likes, 1.1 thousand retweets and quote tweets in 14 days. This appears to be the first instance of the trend, and uses the phrase "how it ended" as the second photo label rather than "how it's going."

Spread

The trend quickly caught on, with many users quote tweeting their own versions of the format. On September 24th, Twitter user Taylor Phillips^[2] posted a version of the format, garnering over 60 thousand likes and 10 thousand retweets in 13 days (shown below, left). On September 25th, Twitter user serinide^[3] uploaded a version of the format, garnering over 4.7 thousand likes and 132 retweets in 12 days (shown below, right).

As the trend continued to grow, users started applying different scenarios under the labels and began using "how it's going" in place of "how it ended," although both are still used. Some of the most popular of these are parody posts, showing off a stagnant or non-existent relationship. On October 4th, Twitter user MahmudMay12^[4] uploaded a parody of the trend, garnering 108 likes in 3 days (shown below, left). On October 5th, WonnJamesss^[5] posted a similar parody, garnering over 13.5 thousand likes and 7.7 thousand retweets in 2 days (shown below, right).

The trend also caught on with verified/corporate Twitter accounts. On October 7th, XboxFR^[6] posted a version of the trend with an old Flight Simulator screenshot as photo one, and a new Flight Simulator screenshot as photo two (shown below, left). On the same day, Young Money's record label^[7] tweeted out a format featuring Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj as photo one, and goats as photo two, garnering over 5.2 thousand likes and 1.5 thousand retweets that day (shown below, right).

On October 7th, the mainstream media started reporting on the trend, including publications from Yahoo News,^[8] boredpanda,^[9] ESPN,^[10] and The Indian Express.^[11]

❄️ U So Icy Ima Glacier Boy

On October 7th, 2020, rapper Quavo posted a series of photos following the trend, using the text labels "HOW I PULLED UP" and "HOW WE COMING." The first photo is a screenshot of a DM conversation between he and rapper Saweetie, where Quavo sends a snowflake emoji to her, then uses the pickup line, "U so icy ima glacier boy." (Shown below.) This inspired Twitter users to send the snowflake emoji and pickup line to others, becoming a meme itself.