Josh DiCristo, Front Rush
Writing an article about memes might seem counter-intuitive at first. You’re only a sentence and a half in and already you’ve read more text than is in an average meme. Probably. I don’t know, there’s really not any significant data on that sort of thing. But part of that reason is because memes aren’t a language, though you might find the people who are the most confused by them usually refer to them as such.
“I don’t get this stuff, it’s like they’re speaking a whole nother language.”
Well first off, “a whole nother” isn’t English so maybe take a look in the mirror before you criticize. But second off, the word “meme” actually comes from a term describing an idea or behavior that spreads between cultures. So really, it’s more of a sociological term than a linguistic one. And if you think about it, that actually makes a lot of sense. Memes gained traction on the internet because they’re short jokes overlaid on top of images that represent a simple, shared idea. Everyone likes short jokes and what better use of the internet is there than to connect with people from different walks of life over a shared experience and make them laugh in the process?
And that brings us to the first rule of memes. Don’t try to use them in conversation, and don’t print them out and put them anywhere. They live online and are best read in your head.
But what kind of memes do you share with your recruits? You want to connect with them in some sort of way but you also don’t want to be the weird, out-of-touch adult desperately trying to seem cool.
Dear god, please don’t do this.
College Freshman
The college freshman meme might be the most relevant for the purposes of recruiting. When that wide-eyed and bushy-tailed freshman is still making that transition from high school to college and they’re doing and saying the wrong things? Well the internet found the stock photo for that idea and jumped on it.
Confused Fry
Fry is a character from Futurama but for the purpose of understanding the meme, all that matters is he captures the feeling not understanding if an action means one thing or something else completely different. The other meaning could be random, inappropriate, or sometimes the complete opposite.
Bad Luck Brian
Everyone’s had a bad school picture day every once in awhile. Just be glad yours didn’t go viral. You could say that adds an extra bit of irony to Bad Luck Brian, who encapsulates every time the rug’s been pulled from under you.
Biden/Obama
And finally, the new kid on the block. These Biden/Obama memes have been echoing around certain corners of the internet for a while now, but they’ve taken on a new life since the election. No matter where you stand on the results, the decision from the internet has been unanimous – Joe Biden as the embarrassing trickster/class clown/roommate to Obama’s straight man will be sorely missed come January.
