IN RECENT years social media has been dominated by viral challenges that have seen people join in a range of outlandish tasks, from unique dance moves to pouring sub-zero buckets of ice over their heads.

And just like many internet fads, the first major one of 2019 is a “challenge.”

It mostly acts as a reason to post a photo of one’s self. This is fine, of course. That’s pretty much what social media is designed for already.

While hashtags such as #ThrowbackThursday and #FlashbackFriday are normally used on social media – the former boasts 45m posts on Instagram and the latter has 13m – in the last few days people have been sharing old photos of themselves for a different reason.

Say hello to the 10-year challenge. But, what is it, and how can you take part?

Here's everything you need to know:

It’s a trend that’s dubbed as the 10-year challenge but is also going by a number of different names, like the “glow-up challenge”, "2009 vs 2019" or "How Hard Did Aging Hit You."

The craze engages people populating pictures of themselves in 2009 to ones taken in 2019 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As with most social media challenges, it is a little unclear to me as to who or what started it.

Nonetheless, rising up to the challenge is fairly easy. All you need to know is share two-side-by-side snaps of yourself ten years apart; one from 2009 and one from 2019.

But some have taken the passing social fad and are using it for a more important cause - specifically, to warn people of the threat that global warming poses to the planet.

Conservationists and groups have been sharing pictures online showing how different parts of the world have drastically changed as a result of human interference. Genius!

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