Know Your Memes | August 11

Misc thoughts on brand safety and fringe internet culture

August 11, 2022

Perhaps Unrelated

Last week Zuckerberg told Meta employees, “realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here” at a company all hands, signaling a desire to set aggressive goals and have employees self-select out of this more aggressive culture. This week I’ve been hit up by multiple recruiters about multiple roles at Meta. Just leaving those two facts here for you to enjoy.

Platform Updates

Instagram 

The Rest of Meta 

TikTok

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn 

Pinterest 

Spotify 

Culture Movers 

Film & TV

Gaming 

Streaming 

Know Your Meme

Brands that Meme has become an increasingly common style of social media marketing. And while your “by the age of 30” copypasta about regional fast food chain menu items is largely innocuous, I think it’s important for social marketers to be aware of the larger, potentially harmful, landscape of memetic conversations out there on the interwebs. 

There are obvious examples of memes that have become so closely linked with hate movements that they are off the table, like Pepe the Frog. There’s the bizarre double-speak of acronyms and conspiracy references used by QAnon’s digital cult members. But there are also quieter, subtle memes and internet aesthetics that are very much linked to fringe hate movements – the digital counterpart to the khaki pants and tiki torches. 

I don’t say this to be alarmist. I don’t think brands are accidentally publishing hate symbols all day without knowing it. But social media marketing is fast-paced. Social teams are often under resource and expected to move incredibly fast to keep up with trends. Some basic knowledge of the weirder, darker, very much not-brand-safe parts of the internet can go a long way in helping you steer clear of this hateful content or spot someone from a hate community in your mentions. 

In that spirit, I wanted to recommend an interesting podcast episode from Digital Void about Meme Culture. Digital Void is an educational group “focused on how new and digital media affects humans.” You might know them from projects like “Are You The Asshole?” which uses AI to generate responses as if you are posting to Reddit’s r/AmITheAsshole. They are a cool group, and you should check them out. 

Anyway, this podcast conversation was great because it explored how memes translate into IRL action. Both in playful ways with stuff like #Gentleminions and in more extreme cases. It gets into some of the structures and aesthetics common in these fringe pockets of the web. Just enough food for thought to help you understand what’s driving some of these memes.    

Podcast Recs

I love podcasts. I’m the sicko who listens to podcasts at the gym instead of music most days. Since this week’s newsletter started with me thinking about a podcast episode, I thought I’d share two other shows I love and ask you to share some of your faves. 

  • Cerebro - Very smart, very funny, very queer, long episode deep dives into characters from the X-Men

  • Keep It - One of the best ways to keep up with pop culture and the conversations surrounding it 

Leave a comment here with a show you love and why I should check it out.