ABC’s of the Internet!

Internet cultures – and the sub-cultures thereof – are extremely confusing. Nerds are taking over the world and you’re not sure you get what they’re even talking about! Fear not, we’re here to help. Lesson number one:

Difference between a meme and a rage character

This one is common enough and many a time is the word meme misused. First, let’s define both. Meme is an internet trend where a certain picture, phrase or video gains popularity and is used in a number of jokes.

Example: ain’t nobody got time for that.

Rage characters are comic characters. The origin of each one can be easily looked up – google is your friend. Rage comics have become very popular in Egypt as they are worldwide with websites like ESS.mx which started out as a Facebook group.

Now, I think we’ve made it simple enough. Let’s practice!

The most interesting man in the world: Meme

Yao Ming: rage character based on basketball player of the same name.

Go show your friends what you’ve learned.

 

Recommended for your browsing pleasures

HONY: Humans of New York is a Facebook page started by a New York based photographer called Brandon. What started out as a small Facebook page has turned into a community thanks to the moving pictures and strong quotes he manages to collect from random strangers on the streets of New York.

 

Recently on the interwebz!

1-      Constitution for All Egyptians… And a bunch of white people

Just what in the name of sanity was that? Even if we overlook the misspelled “Egyptians” in Arabic, what are all those white people doing on a banner for the Egyptian constitution?

Thanks to the internet, people quickly found out that 3 out of the 5 models in that poster are not even Egyptian. This sparked an internet trend of photoshopping random characters in their place. New meme? You tell us.

2-      Facebook saves everything you type? Yes it does.

Recently, articles circulated the web about how Facebook saves any status update, comment or post you type and then decide not to publish. Sauvik Das and Adam Kramer made a study on what they call “self-censorship” which is when we decide to not post something after we have already typed it. This act of self-censorship provides a great social study but the outcome did not intrigue the public as much as the fact that Holy cow! Facebook saves everything I type? 

It’s simple! Gmail stores all your draft emails without you clicking on save. And we all know Facebook has a history of keeping track of everything. We suppose we will just have to be all the more careful.