What should brands post with the This > That trend?

Aesthetic lifestyle b-roll Product-in-use routine footage Slow close-up of product texture or finish Candid behind-the-scenes moment

This > That

Updated August 1, 2026

Lifestyle

Example 10:07

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What is the This > That trend?

Creators use the 'A > B' text format over calm, cinematic b-roll to name their personal hierarchy: what they choose, what they skip, what wins. Brands use it to name the specific trade-off or preference their customer makes, placing their product or experience on the winning side of the comparison.

Where did the This > That trend come from?

The "X > Y" comparison convention used in this trend traces to Twitter, where the greater-than symbol was adopted as informal shorthand for "is better than." Know Your Meme documents an October 2019 post by @IronNinja2000 as one of the earliest examples of this multi-image tweet format, with a broad viral spike occurring on Twitter in April 2020 and a further resurgence in December 2020. The format subsequently migrated across platforms and aligned with the early-to-mid-2020s TikTok and Instagram Reels practice of pairing calm, cinematic b-roll with declarative text overlays, becoming a vehicle for expressing lifestyle preference. No single viral originator, specific audio, or first creator has been identified as the catalyst for the cinematic b-roll variant of the trend.