There's something I've been noticing on social media over the past few years or more (especially on Facebook) that doesn't seem to be showing signs of going away. It's something that's been bugging me for some time now, and I'll explain why in just a moment.
Take this scenario. Somebody creates from scratch what would become the next trending meme. Let's say, for example, a witty one-liner on top of a photo of Morgan Freeman, as if to make it look like something he quoted (since those ones seem to be quite popular still). This new meme does the rounds on Facebook for a bit, people sharing it all over the place to the point where it becomes the next funniest thing since 5-minutes ago (social media addicts secretly have ADD, I think - it's not very long before they move on to the next one). Now, not too long after this new meme explodes out of nowhere, the next phase of the trend kicks in - copycat memes. What are they, you ask? Well, it's basically the EXACT SAME WITTY QUOTE, only it's NOT on a photo of Morgan Freeman. Instead, it's on someone else's photo, or it's just simply a quote on a bland background provided by Facebook itself. Once these copycats rise up, they all start doing the rounds as well, so now you have multiple versions of the same thing filling your screens, thus causing a near-impossible-to-avoid case of repetition. Also, that poor sucker who created the thing in the first place is now almost forgotten and doesn't get the credit they deserve, to the point where there's almost no way of telling how it all began anymore.
So, the reason this bugs me is because, firstly, the fact that the origin of the meme is now no longer important, lacking the credit for doing a good job in the first place. This is something I take personally because, quite often I've been that guy. Not necessarily with memes, but in something as simple as a quote in a conversation or an action I took to make something happen. The results, in my cases, ended up being a misquote (someone thinking somebody else said it, when it was actually me - leaving me feeling underappreciated), or something I've done to help with something that also got ruled out as something someone else did (e.g. Something work-related that was helpful, only for someone else to get credit and no thanks to me for the effort). I don't want to come across as selfish at all, because that's not the case. It's just that I have a problem with inaccurate details, especially when they make everything get blown out of context.
The second reason the meme thing bugs me is the repetition, which is the main reason behind this blog entry's title. When you see something that's funny at first pop into your news feed for what feels like the millionth time within a few days, that witty quote doesn't feel as funny anymore. In fact, when seen more than enough times, it could possibly get to the point where you start hating it. All these copycats are ruining great posts.
If any of you follow my Duckman page, you will notice that when I post memes, a lot of the time you can tell that if it's not one I created, it will still be linked to the page or person who shared it originally (which is, of course, hard to know if it's actually them, because they could've copied/pasted it from a third party - but I still give credit no matter what). In cases where it's not mine and it's not linked, it's probably because that person/page didn't have their settings set to public. However, there have been memes that I've created, and I usually tell you if it is. I don't know if anyone's tried to copy my memes yet, but I'm sure they will in due time, in which case I'll probably be annoyed at them for it, knowing where it could lead.
So, if you wish to spread the funny, witty meme you just discovered, share it from the original person who posted it. If you feel the urge to make your own version of it, please do us a favour and log off immediately. All I'm asking is that we get some originality out there for a change.
Let me close by putting it this way - Would you rather watch the first "Star Wars" movie, or would you prefer "Turkish Star Wars"? I rest my case.
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