Elon students don’t always create Facebook pages...
...but when they do, it's Elon Memes.
The new Facebook page, which follows in the footsteps of other universities’ pages across the country, has gained a noticeable following during the last few weeks.
Two weeks after its creation Feb. 8, Elon Memes now has more than 1,200 likes from Elon students. The page, which is dedicated to making Elon-themed memes — jokes that spread through the Internet in the form of pictures and text — allows students to post their own memes and view those of other students.
Junior Thomas Rickabaugh, creator of Elon Memes, made several memes before deciding to create a Facebook page.
“My brother and I discovered memes through Reddit, and I have always liked showing ones that I found funny to my friends,” Rickabaugh said. “I thought about weird things on campus and kind of related them to memes and ironies they always presented. I posted memes that I created to my friends’ walls about professors and classes, then decided that a page would be such a good way for other students to share them.”
Junior Bert Brokaw, who has contributed to the Elon Memes page frequently, said the memes are appealing because Elon students can relate to them.
“Users of the page seem to enjoy it because each meme is essentially a large-scale inside joke,” Brokaw said. “For the most part, only Elon students are able to relate to the humor, and that’s what I think people find so entertaining about it.”
Rickabaugh said he thinks it is the Facebook format that makes the page so appealing.
“There is honestly nothing that can compare to a Facebook page,” Rickabaugh said. “You will find that almost everyone here at school has a Facebook and when one person posts a meme, you can instantly check it out.”
But some students have complained about the page, saying some of the memes go too far. One meme in particular, featuring Acorn employee Eddie Talley, Jr., offended senior Katie O’Brien.
“It went too far, so I decided to report it,” O’Brien said.
Others said the memes are not intended to hurt people, but simply to be funny.
“I do think when you bring a person into it, a meme could be very offensive,” said freshman Aly Yarwood. “At the same time, however, I know that people are doing this just for fun. I do not think they mean it to be offensive.”
A number of memes fans have complained about the misuse of memes on the page, which may occur if the text on the meme does not match the corresponding photo being used to illustrate it.
“Some people have made comments about the ‘misuse’ of memes and while it’s not a big deal, they find it a bit annoying,” Rickabaugh said. “I suppose they have become so used to people using memes the right way that when someone messes one up, they want to correct them.”
But users like Brokaw do not see the point in calling attention to the supposed misuse.
“I honestly don’t understand why some of the users care so much about people misusing memes,” Brokaw said. “As a person who looks at memes every day, it doesn’t really bother me that some Elon students are misusing them. If a meme is funny, it’s funny, regardless of whether or not it’s being used correctly.”