From artistic tasks to embarrassing photos: The viral social media challenges keeping people busy during coronavirus lockdown

In the past few weeks social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok have been overrun with viral challenges to keep the whole family occupied during the coronavirus outbreak.

From people posting unflattering photos with the cryptic caption 'Until Tomorrow' to keeping rolls of toilet paper airbound - there's no shortage of engaging online activities to share with your friends.

Research by influencer company Obviously unearthed a 22 per cent increase in Instagram campaign impressions from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020 and a 27 per cent jump in engagement on average on TikTok from February to March.

And it's showing no signs of slowing down as mass school and business closures grip the globe as well as event cancellations and attractions shutting down in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19.

While online challenges are nothing new - with a new range of weird and wonderful activities gripping the globe each year - this new selection of tasks and tests are keeping people connected and promoting fun while socialising from a safe distance.

Here, we take a look at some of the top viral internet challenges taking over the world:

When people aren't flocking to supermarkets to stockpile toilet roll, the humble household item has become an online sensation.

The Keepy Uppy Challenge or Toilet Roll Challenge sees people, including global sports stars, try and do as many keepy-uppies with a roll of toilet paper as possible and video their attempt to post online.

The sporty challenge has been taken on by the likes of Lionel Messi, Bruno Fernandes, Theo Walcott, Jamie Carragher, Phil Foden, Felipe Melo and many more.

The challenge was originally part of RTE’s Create Don’t Contaminate campaign. The purpose of the campaign is for young people to make content from anywhere in their house, with creative challenges in music, comedy, dance, art, story-telling, fashion or beauty.

People have been testing their strength with the Push Up Challenge in which people do 10 push ups before nominating 10 of their friends to do the same task.

Sometimes, to make it even harder, participants will have someone from their household sit on their back as they drop down.

Stars such as Jennifer Hudson, Quavo and Teresa Giudice have taken on the challenge as an easy way to keep fit and active during lockdown.

Elsewhere, talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres challenged former First Lady Michelle Obama to the Planking Challenge, and posted the whole phone conversation to her Instagram page.

The endurance challenge sees social media users attempt to maintain a position similar to a push-up for the maximum possible time while tagging friends to join in.

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has been challenging self-isolated social media users to try and recreate their favourite masterpieces.

Last month, the iconic museum shared a post on Twitter with the caption: ‘We challenge you to recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home.’

All people need to do choose their favourite artwork, find three things lying around the house, and recreate the artwork with those items, before sharing their entry online.

Instagram has been flooded with a number of different challenges posted to both people's stories and feed.

The mysterious Until Tomorrow Challenge surfaced earlier this month and saw a number of Instagram users posting unflattering throwbacks sporting the cryptic caption.

Until Tomorrow sees users post weird and funny pictures of themselves on Instagram.

The rules dictate that if you like someone's Until Tomorrow post, you must post your own embarrassing snap and keep it on your profile for 24 hours.

Other similar challenges have seen people posting pictures of their pets as well as baby pictures before challenging their friends to do the same.

One wholesome challenge gets users to post their favourite photo of themselves, 'and only themselves', before tagging 10 'beautiful people' to do the same, promoting positivity.

The Draw Something Challenge has seen Instagram users draw a range of objects - from vegetables through to animals - before challenging their friends to recreate their image.

The task sees a chain of often humorous images posted across the social media platform while challenging users to get creative.

The latest buzz on Instagram is the 30 Day Song Challenge that sees people sharing their favourite songs in response to specific questions.

Various templates are being shared across the platform for people to post on their story each day, with prompts included for users to pick songs, such as 'a song you like with a colour in the title' or 'a song that reminds you of summertime'.

Film mogul Tyler Perry introduced the He's Got The World Challenge, in which users attempt to sing the nursery rhyme, He's Got the Whole World, in their own style.

The challenge has become a hit online as Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, and Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams taking part.

Chinese video sharing service TikTok shot to popularity in 2018, hitting one billion downloads last year.

It allows users to share 15 second videos, and has spawned a series of challenges to keep people entertained during lockdown.

The Gesture Challenge has now gone viral across platforms, challenging users to copy a list of complex hand movements accompanied by fast-paced music.

Celebrities such as The Jonas Brothers have attempted the tough challenge alongside the likes of Diversity's Ashley Banjo, Dan Osborne, and Jacqueline Jossa.

Set to Wiz Khalifa's hit song of the same name, the Something New Challenge sees users get into groups of three or more to do a dance routine.

The challenge has been a hit on TikTok, with superstars such as Lebron James and Jennifer Lopez taking part with their families.

Similarly, the Flip The Switch Challenge, set to Drake's Nonstop, requires one person to stand close to a mirror holding a phone still while another stands in the background performing a dance.

When Drake sings the opening line 'look I just flipped a switch', the lights go off and on revealing that the two people have swapped outfits, positions and actions.

One bizarre TikTok challenge has seen people stripping naked in a bid to shock their significant other.

The Naked Challenge is simple - wait for a moment when your significant other is playing video games, on a conference call, or working. Then all you need to do is get your kit off, grab your phone and film their reaction to you walking in.

The unlikely challenge is slowly becoming a hit online with humorous videos being uploaded to TikTok.

The TikTok algorithm picks up and flags posts with the word 'naked' in them, so users have been posting their challenge videos with the words ‘n4k3d’, ‘nakid’, ‘nakey’ or other variations.