Planking is a trend that has taken off really only in the last year or so even though it is said to have been invented more than 10 years ago. Planking is a simple thing – in essence you just go out, lie face down somewhere with your hands at the sides of your body, get someone to take a photograph of you in this position and post the photograph on the internet.

In the height of it’s popularity in early 2011, the craze was to carry out planking in the most strange or even dangerous places. This actually led to some deaths of people taking part in planking including the death of a man in Brisbane after planking on a 7th floor balcony. There are other deaths that have been rumoured to be related to planking but it is difficult to prove if this is the case.

Many cases of planking can be found in video format on YouTube as well as participants posting photos of themselves on facebook and other social networking sites.

No doubt planking is a trend that will fizzle out and other strange stunts will be thought of instead in the quest to be the next social media fad.