Not a day goes by where I don’t hear some peculiar new slang fly from a boy’s mouth. “Gimmie them toes!”, “You’re a Bot!”, “It’s a Rat!” and most recently improptu jam sessions of the Neverending Story theme song have become verbal symbols of the time. I’m blessed with a trio of boys who are patient enough to explain (or repeat) phrases enough for me to come to a basic understanding of the meaning. That same blessed nature has led to me understanding that these various phrases are often all stand ins for the same set of emotions. Simultaneously they classify you as a social media user of a certain type. “It’s a rat!” conveys shock and surprise at something while also arguing that you subscribe to the same set of social media as another person (don’t know what media it came from, but somewhere on youtube). “On your head” exerts dominance over another while showing that you subscribe to yet another series of channels. Neverending Story? Well that means join me in my joy, of course. What else would it mean?
Trying to keep track of the memes is like trying to learn a handful of pidgins at once. These things move so fast and with such purpose. It feels as though the idea is to reinforce the elitism of the phraseology in the way a computer constantly updates its virus definitions in order to avoid infection.
But who is leading the way? Social Media Influencers (a new media term) battle for eyes and subscribers on the battlefields of Youtube, Mixer, Patreon, TicToc, SnapChat, Twitch, and more while the traditional media giants lumber behind swallowing up these influence engines and, eventually, influencers in an effort to regain control of the social message.
They are not winning. The nature of the system argues they cannot win against such an agile foe. Instead the ever shifting roster of influencers will maintain influence and stay on social media’s head.
Some Thoughts:
- A good night’s sleep works wonders.