Davidson’s (2012) article on the language of memes provided insight into the rise of these internet entities and why they are so prevalent. In particular, three of their characteristics stood out as the responsible parties to the memes popularity: speed of transmission, ease of replication (and therefore variation), and lack of attribution. With access to the internet, a file can go viral in literally minutes. Take for example, one of the more popular memes from this week, an unflattering photo of Beyonce from her Superbowl half time show. Her publicist requested that a website remove the unsightly photo of the pop queen, and at such an outrageous request, the photo made internet rounds faster than some of the week’s top news stories. The speed of transmission allowed this photo to be something that people shared instantaneously. With software providing the ability to alter digital images, ease of replication and variation allowed the joke to continue while evolving into various forms of jokes that anyone could enjoy. Like Futurama? There’s a Zoidberg Beyonce. Like The Walking Dead? There’s zombie Beyonce. If you’re just a meme fan in general, then let’s call this little fiasco Bad Luck Briyonce. Lack of attribution frees us from the otherwise stiff and stifling property rights laws. Since no one is taking credit for the memes, they can be shared and manipulated as many times as the public continues to tolerate the joke. For your viewing pleasure, and clarification in case you’ve been living under a rock this week: http://baconwrappedmedia.com/funny-beyonce-super-bowl-meme-37-pics/. I hope its obvious why I chose this as my paper topic.
Baron (2008) examined away messages in instant messaging services and the alternative uses that individual users found for them. While some users did alter the default away message to explain why there were away from their computers (even if lying about their whereabouts), many used the away message as a form of self expression. Everything from humor to soapboxing were observed in users away messages, much like the modern Facebook status update often used in strikingly similar ways, in my opinion. Most memorable from this reading was the strong opinion of some users about the away messages of others. The utter disgust displayed for a lack of a clever message was a telling sign in why this facet of online communication was worth studying. Such strong opinions about the away messages of others confirmed that users deeply cared about the identity they displayed in their own messages, but most significantly, that they cared about the identity displayed by other users. I guess I was blissfully clueless that those Pink Floyd lyrics posted as my away message as a 15 year old fell short in the eyes of other instant message users.
Naaman, Boase, and Lai’s (2010) look at microblogging, Twitter specifically, and make a study of two kids of users, the informers and the “meformers”. Informers generally post to make others aware of an event or subject, and while the subjects of their posts are centered on their interests, they are not self-subject posts. For this reason, their posts then to be more conversational. The “meformers” on the other hand are self-centered posters, but interestingly, they also use these platforms as a way to maintain a large network that would otherwise be too time costly without such networked platforms as Twitter.
Humor plays a significant role in self presentation for users on the internet. Humorous posts tend to be looked on more favorably than those posts that act as a cry for attention and users seem to use humor as a way to make themselves appear interesting and attractive. Although due to lack of attribution of internet memes, the humor of the individual’s variation on the joke can be cathartic. For those of you familiar, I often note this in Bad Luck Brian posts, with users sharing something unfortunate happening to them through the character. The style and language used online also convey some form of self presentation for a user. For example, if I post a Facebook status that says, “YOLO, LOL!” then I it could either be a display of how in the know I am when it comes to these text talk lingos, or I could be making fun of those who use them by over exaggeration. Both would convey something about myself, and in this case, it would be the later.
Very interesting blog post,Meagan!I always enjoy reading you posts, good job! I agree with you that some people like to attract the others by posting sad story or images. I understand that we all free to express our thoughts and feelings the way we like, but sometime when you exaggerate in something you would sound boring, and people will stop reading your posts. I have a freind that she post like at least 20 posts about a turkish singer they she is big fan of ( even though she doesn’t understand Turkey or know what the singer is singing ). She want me to comment in all her posts and press LIKE, and if I didn’t do she get so mad and send me a private message asking me why I didn’t comment in her posts. I think that this is crazy and I have the right to choose what I like and comment in what I really like. Anyway I ended by removing her from my list because I don’t have time for that.
Great post! I haven’t been following Beyonce so I love your title it really fits well with your comments. The photos of Beyonce is a great example of replication. Could you image always having to watch how to look, act or what you say because someone with put it on the internet and it will be replicated.
I prefer Twitter over Facebook because I think it’s easier to find followers with similar interests. But I’d be curious to see more research that better defines the difference between meformers and informers. For instance, would you describe someone who posts lots of opinions about a specific subject to be a meformer or an informer? I follow lots of sports journalists that post their personal thoughts on the sport they cover. I’d consider them informers. But some might say they’re meformers.
Good example with the Beyonce meme. I caught it on Talk Soup earlier this week. Hilarious. Equally as funny was the guy who moved off camera to take a sip of water. I’m thinking that’s also a meme now.
Along with us trying to present our “best me” to the world, I think that poor Beyonce already tries really hard because she is in the public eye. Even when we try our best to present ourselves as something, with all this new technology you can always be caught slipping. Even if you do not want something to go viral, in a couple seconds millions will already see a bad moment. Although, those pictures were hilarious and did give me a good laugh, but I feel somewhat bad for Beyonce, yet I could not stop laughing. :’D
I agree that people can use all types of messages, even the away ones mentioned in your blog, as a form of self-expression. How else would people on the internet have any idea who they were talking to while on the internet? I also agree that humor significantly helps with self presentation in blogs and/or chats among two or more people. This would prove a very effective way to make a bad situation slightly more bearable. My mom’s recent diagnosis with breast cancer has been a lot easier to handle because of her positive outlook and her great sense of humor.
Although the pictures of Beyonce were humorous, it made a very bad image for her and what she represents as an artist. The person who posted the picture obviously tried to make a joke about it, but I really did not see anything funny about it. Humor is something that we as people like to look at and enjoy which sometimes has its up and downs on others peoples images. I agree she had a bad week with social media, but her perfomance was BANGING!! To make a bad situation good, she will probably continue to make tons of hits and sell out numerous of performances.