Choosing a topic for a PhD is not easy. You don’t want a topic that is too ‘hot’; for instance a topic like ‘Instagram and representations of the body’, which while it appears to be fresh, leads to the problem of hundreds of PhDs and countless research papers standing in your way to success. It’s just too hot. Or for instance, yet another PhD on the Korean Wave. There has to be some value in your work when you look for a job down the line.
Imagine your PhD as a book title on Amazon in three years. You want something that is just a bit ‘ahead of the curve’ but not too niche, something that won’t be dated or obsolete by the time you finish.
Then there is the question of finding a supervisor that can offer you the right support. Again, not so easy; sometimes you may have to amend your topic to fit the environment, which is not a bad thing in itself.