How It Started vs How It's Going

2020Photo comparison / social media trendclassic

Also known as: How It Started / How It Ended · How I Pulled Up / How We Coming

How It Started vs How It's Going is a 2020 Twitter photo-trend using side-by-side image pairs that contrast humble beginnings with later success, typically celebrating personal milestones and growth.

How It Started vs. How It's Going is a Twitter photo trend where users post two side-by-side images comparing a humble beginning to a later outcome, typically a success story. The format took off in late September 2020 when relationship posts using the template went viral, and within two weeks it had spread to sports teams, corporate accounts, and mainstream media coverage3. The trend became a rare bright spot during an otherwise bleak year, giving people a way to celebrate personal milestones and growth.

selfie memesbefore and after memespositivity memespandemic era memestransformation memes

TL;DR

How It Started vs.

Overview

The format is simple: two photos arranged sequentially under the captions "How it started" and "How it's going." The first image shows a beginning point, often something modest or awkward, while the second shows where things ended up. Early versions focused on romantic relationships, with users sharing their first DM conversations alongside current couple photos3. The format quickly expanded beyond dating to cover career achievements, personal growth, sports milestones, and ironic self-deprecating humor1.

What made the trend stick was its flexibility. The same two-panel structure could carry a wholesome success story, a sports team's legacy, or a joke about things going sideways. The variant label "How It Ended" was used interchangeably with "How It's Going," and rapper Quavo popularized his own spin with "How I Pulled Up" and "How We Coming"3.

On September 23, 2020, Twitter user @vjillanelles posted a tweet with a screenshot of a DM conversation as the first image and a photo of her and her partner together as the second3. The tweet picked up over 25,000 likes and 1,100 retweets within two weeks. This appears to be the first instance of the trend, and notably used "how it ended" rather than "how it's going" as the second label3.

The timing was significant. By late September 2020, people were deep into pandemic fatigue. As Bored Panda noted, the deadly pandemic, police brutality protests, and political crises had left social media users stuck in a cycle of doomscrolling through bad news1. The trend offered a counterweight, giving people a reason to share something positive.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter
Creator
@vjillanelles
Date
2020
Year
2020

On September 23, 2020, Twitter user @vjillanelles posted a tweet with a screenshot of a DM conversation as the first image and a photo of her and her partner together as the second. The tweet picked up over 25,000 likes and 1,100 retweets within two weeks. This appears to be the first instance of the trend, and notably used "how it ended" rather than "how it's going" as the second label.

The timing was significant. By late September 2020, people were deep into pandemic fatigue. As Bored Panda noted, the deadly pandemic, police brutality protests, and political crises had left social media users stuck in a cycle of doomscrolling through bad news. The trend offered a counterweight, giving people a reason to share something positive.

How It Spread

The format caught fire fast. On September 24, 2020, Twitter user Taylor Phillips posted her own version, pulling in over 60,000 likes and 10,000 retweets within 13 days. The next day, user @serinide added another take that picked up 4,700 likes.

By early October, the trend had shifted. Users moved beyond genuine relationship posts into broader categories and parody territory. On October 4, user @MahmudMay12 posted a self-deprecating version. The next day, @WonnJamesss dropped a parody that racked up 13,500 likes and 7,700 retweets in just two days.

Corporate and verified accounts jumped in around October 7. Xbox France posted a comparison of old and new Flight Simulator graphics. Young Money's label account put up a photo of Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj alongside goats, pulling 5,200 likes. That same day, Quavo posted his version featuring a DM to Saweetie where he opened with a snowflake emoji and the line "U so icy ima glacier boy," which became its own sub-meme as people copied the pickup approach.

The sports world went all in. ESPN covered the trend on October 6, with teams and athletes across professional sports sharing their own versions. The coverage highlighted everything from Lionel Messi as a kid paired with his career highs, to Kylian Mbappé holding two different World Cup trophies, to Steve Kerr looking suspiciously unaged across decades. Teams from the NFL, NBA, college sports, and international soccer all participated.

Mainstream media picked up the story on October 7, with coverage from Yahoo News, ESPN, Bored Panda, and The Indian Express.

Platforms

TwitterInstagramTikTokFacebookReddit

Timeline

2020-01-01

Format emerges on Twitter

2020-02-01

Rapid spread across platforms

2020-06-01

Solidified as standard format

2020-12-01

Peak usage throughout year

2021-onwards

Maintains active, consistent usage

2022-01-01

How It Started vs How It's Going reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2023-01-01

Brands and companies started using How It Started vs How It's Going in marketing

2025-01-01

How It Started vs How It's Going is still actively used and shared across platforms

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The format follows a straightforward template:

1

Pick a starting point. This is typically an early, unglamorous, or modest moment. First DM conversations, childhood photos, early career snapshots, and draft day pictures all work well.

2

Pick an endpoint. This should show where things landed. Graduation photos, career milestones, championship trophies, or current relationship status are common choices.

3

Label the first image "How it started" (or "How I started") and the second "How it's going" (or "How it ended").

4

Post both images together in a single tweet or social media post.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The trend hit at a moment when people were desperate for positive content. Rebecca Renner's reporting for National Geographic, referenced in Bored Panda's coverage, described how the constant cycle of scary news had pushed people into compulsive doomscrolling. The "How It Started" format gave users a reason to post something uplifting instead.

Boston University marketing professor Carey Morewedge's research on "rosy retrospection" helps explain the trend's appeal. People naturally remember the past more positively than it actually was, and the format leaned into that bias by framing personal histories as clean origin-to-success arcs.

The trend's crossover into professional sports was notable. Rather than just individual fans participating, official team accounts and league media departments created their own versions, turning the meme into a form of fan engagement and brand storytelling.

Quavo's contribution on October 7 generated its own spinoff trend, with Twitter users sending snowflake emojis and the "U so icy ima glacier boy" pickup line to potential romantic interests.

Fun Facts

The very first "How It Started" post used "How It Ended" as the second label, not "How It's Going".

Quavo's DM opener to Saweetie, "U so icy ima glacier boy," became a standalone meme that outlived many people's memory of the original trend.

ESPN's coverage noted that Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr appeared to have barely aged between his "started" and "going" photos.

Historian Erika Harlitz-Kern from Florida International University pointed out that even the term "Gilded Age" is an example of rosy retrospection, the same psychological bias that powers the trend.

Derivatives & Variations

Expectations vs Reality, Similar format comparing desired vs actual outcomes

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Then vs Now, Variation focusing on temporal changes

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Before and After, Broader category of comparison-based content

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Multi-panel versions, Extended format with more than two time periods

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Video versions, How It Started vs Going adapted for video content

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Frequently Asked Questions

How It Started vs How It's Going

2020Photo comparison / social media trendclassic

Also known as: How It Started / How It Ended · How I Pulled Up / How We Coming

How It Started vs How It's Going is a 2020 Twitter photo-trend using side-by-side image pairs that contrast humble beginnings with later success, typically celebrating personal milestones and growth.

How It Started vs. How It's Going is a Twitter photo trend where users post two side-by-side images comparing a humble beginning to a later outcome, typically a success story. The format took off in late September 2020 when relationship posts using the template went viral, and within two weeks it had spread to sports teams, corporate accounts, and mainstream media coverage. The trend became a rare bright spot during an otherwise bleak year, giving people a way to celebrate personal milestones and growth.

selfie memes before and after memes positivity memes pandemic era memes transformation memes

TL;DR

How It Started vs.

Overview

The format is simple: two photos arranged sequentially under the captions "How it started" and "How it's going." The first image shows a beginning point, often something modest or awkward, while the second shows where things ended up. Early versions focused on romantic relationships, with users sharing their first DM conversations alongside current couple photos. The format quickly expanded beyond dating to cover career achievements, personal growth, sports milestones, and ironic self-deprecating humor.

What made the trend stick was its flexibility. The same two-panel structure could carry a wholesome success story, a sports team's legacy, or a joke about things going sideways. The variant label "How It Ended" was used interchangeably with "How It's Going," and rapper Quavo popularized his own spin with "How I Pulled Up" and "How We Coming".

On September 23, 2020, Twitter user @vjillanelles posted a tweet with a screenshot of a DM conversation as the first image and a photo of her and her partner together as the second. The tweet picked up over 25,000 likes and 1,100 retweets within two weeks. This appears to be the first instance of the trend, and notably used "how it ended" rather than "how it's going" as the second label.

The timing was significant. By late September 2020, people were deep into pandemic fatigue. As Bored Panda noted, the deadly pandemic, police brutality protests, and political crises had left social media users stuck in a cycle of doomscrolling through bad news. The trend offered a counterweight, giving people a reason to share something positive.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter
Creator
@vjillanelles
Date
2020
Year
2020

On September 23, 2020, Twitter user @vjillanelles posted a tweet with a screenshot of a DM conversation as the first image and a photo of her and her partner together as the second. The tweet picked up over 25,000 likes and 1,100 retweets within two weeks. This appears to be the first instance of the trend, and notably used "how it ended" rather than "how it's going" as the second label.

The timing was significant. By late September 2020, people were deep into pandemic fatigue. As Bored Panda noted, the deadly pandemic, police brutality protests, and political crises had left social media users stuck in a cycle of doomscrolling through bad news. The trend offered a counterweight, giving people a reason to share something positive.

How It Spread

The format caught fire fast. On September 24, 2020, Twitter user Taylor Phillips posted her own version, pulling in over 60,000 likes and 10,000 retweets within 13 days. The next day, user @serinide added another take that picked up 4,700 likes.

By early October, the trend had shifted. Users moved beyond genuine relationship posts into broader categories and parody territory. On October 4, user @MahmudMay12 posted a self-deprecating version. The next day, @WonnJamesss dropped a parody that racked up 13,500 likes and 7,700 retweets in just two days.

Corporate and verified accounts jumped in around October 7. Xbox France posted a comparison of old and new Flight Simulator graphics. Young Money's label account put up a photo of Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj alongside goats, pulling 5,200 likes. That same day, Quavo posted his version featuring a DM to Saweetie where he opened with a snowflake emoji and the line "U so icy ima glacier boy," which became its own sub-meme as people copied the pickup approach.

The sports world went all in. ESPN covered the trend on October 6, with teams and athletes across professional sports sharing their own versions. The coverage highlighted everything from Lionel Messi as a kid paired with his career highs, to Kylian Mbappé holding two different World Cup trophies, to Steve Kerr looking suspiciously unaged across decades. Teams from the NFL, NBA, college sports, and international soccer all participated.

Mainstream media picked up the story on October 7, with coverage from Yahoo News, ESPN, Bored Panda, and The Indian Express.

Platforms

TwitterInstagramTikTokFacebookReddit

Timeline

2020-01-01

Format emerges on Twitter

2020-02-01

Rapid spread across platforms

2020-06-01

Solidified as standard format

2020-12-01

Peak usage throughout year

2021-onwards

Maintains active, consistent usage

2022-01-01

How It Started vs How It's Going reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2023-01-01

Brands and companies started using How It Started vs How It's Going in marketing

2025-01-01

How It Started vs How It's Going is still actively used and shared across platforms

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The format follows a straightforward template:

1

Pick a starting point. This is typically an early, unglamorous, or modest moment. First DM conversations, childhood photos, early career snapshots, and draft day pictures all work well.

2

Pick an endpoint. This should show where things landed. Graduation photos, career milestones, championship trophies, or current relationship status are common choices.

3

Label the first image "How it started" (or "How I started") and the second "How it's going" (or "How it ended").

4

Post both images together in a single tweet or social media post.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The trend hit at a moment when people were desperate for positive content. Rebecca Renner's reporting for National Geographic, referenced in Bored Panda's coverage, described how the constant cycle of scary news had pushed people into compulsive doomscrolling. The "How It Started" format gave users a reason to post something uplifting instead.

Boston University marketing professor Carey Morewedge's research on "rosy retrospection" helps explain the trend's appeal. People naturally remember the past more positively than it actually was, and the format leaned into that bias by framing personal histories as clean origin-to-success arcs.

The trend's crossover into professional sports was notable. Rather than just individual fans participating, official team accounts and league media departments created their own versions, turning the meme into a form of fan engagement and brand storytelling.

Quavo's contribution on October 7 generated its own spinoff trend, with Twitter users sending snowflake emojis and the "U so icy ima glacier boy" pickup line to potential romantic interests.

Fun Facts

The very first "How It Started" post used "How It Ended" as the second label, not "How It's Going".

Quavo's DM opener to Saweetie, "U so icy ima glacier boy," became a standalone meme that outlived many people's memory of the original trend.

ESPN's coverage noted that Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr appeared to have barely aged between his "started" and "going" photos.

Historian Erika Harlitz-Kern from Florida International University pointed out that even the term "Gilded Age" is an example of rosy retrospection, the same psychological bias that powers the trend.

Derivatives & Variations

Expectations vs Reality, Similar format comparing desired vs actual outcomes

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Then vs Now, Variation focusing on temporal changes

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Before and After, Broader category of comparison-based content

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Multi-panel versions, Extended format with more than two time periods

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Video versions, How It Started vs Going adapted for video content

A variation of How It Started vs How It's Going

(2020)

Frequently Asked Questions