Meme Girls

Everyone is kind of the same online.

Ok, maybe not everyone is the same online, but I've noticed a lot of YouTubers are. They're all the same mixture of neurosis, geekiness and dry wit.

This kind of persona is a way we conform on the internet. Conforming is performing identity.

It could be argued that the videos I linked to above are designed to be personable, to draw people in; after all, both communitychannel and charlieissocoollike (whose videos are embedded above) are YouTube Partners, which means they make money from every view they get. This is a valid point. However, it could also be argued that most (if not all) identities are designed to draw people in. Humans are social creatures by nature. Even the most introverted of introverts will have some very close human connections.

Memes are another great example of our social nature. There are no clear benefits from propagating a meme, yet they spread like wildfire.

Memes are a way of letting people know that we get it. That we're in on the joke. That, yes, we find the same things funny, and, oh, I've seen Mean Girls too, it's hilarious. In this way, I think identity (on and offline) is very much a performance. There is a persona we put on for the internet: it's the one that strives to be quirkily intelligent, coming slightly out of left field, but still accessible to your every-person. It's the one which reminds me of those posters for "indie" movies, you know the sort: the ones with that hand-drawn font thing going on.

In short, everyone becomes a little bit like Tina Fey.

Is it a coincidence that there are so many Mean Girls memes floating around on the internet?