It is a popular way for people to express their emotions by using emojis in today’s social media platforms . It is said that The first emoji was created in 1998 or 1999 in japan by Kurita , who took the inspiration from weather forecasts that used symbols to show weather, and then a great number of emojis was adopted in Apple’s phone, which made emoji become increasingly popular worldwide. In 2015, it is found that "Face with Tears of Joy" was the most popular emoji across the world, and I have counted that I can send 30 times of this emoji to my friends in social media in one day!
Researchers found that the preferences of emoji can be
different when it comes to different cultures.
While Italian and Francian and French like use romantic emoji, the
Spanish prefer to flex their muscles while the British and Americans mainly
seem to be weary. Moreover, In Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, countries known
for their love of rhythm, people favour musical notes. But things became
complicated in China because of the newly-developing popular culture of memes.
Chinese memes are
mainly some funny pictures coming from movies, dramas, cartoons or professional
memes creators, interpreted with funny and popular words. They were massively
used in daily conversation in Chinese social media like Wechat and Sina Weibo.It
is now a common scence that people only use memes to chat without saying as
memes can express a lot and make conversation interesting.
Like this popular meme, in which the man who is lying in the sofa indecently (It is said that Beijingers are especially prone to this way of reclining. Many entertainers of Beijing origin have been caught on camera in this inelegant but comfortable position. )is GeYou,a master comedian whose cameo appearance in a situation comedy spawned a wave of good-humored interpretations and imitations , and this meme was used in social media when the somebody feels upset, sad,or surprised.For example, I often use it when my friend tell me that he or she can not hang out with me or have to change the original schedule .
So you can see ,memes have already became one important social media's culture in China.It is so important because firstly, it can make your chat fun and relieve awkward situations if all the people have nothing to say(using meme to chat with strangers is also a good way to use it) ;secondly ,it can share the most popular event in society,and it is the time you find yourself outdated if you can not understand one popular meme.
Hi Xiaoyu!. Your post is very interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn my country, young people are also crazy about meme on Facebook, especially Yao Ming meme (he is Chinese). However, do you think that meme will limit the way people express their emotions and writing skills. For example, when you miss someone or disagree with something, you will use your language to describe them. Now, you use meme to substitute for your language. Do you think it will be a problem?.
Thanks for your question Nguyen,
DeleteYes ,indeed using memes to chat with friends may seems so effective and fun that people may rely too much on this easy way instead of organizing their language, for example, some of my friends seldom saying a word in our WeChat group and they only send memes.It will be more severe when children learn to use these pictures to chat with their parents or friends, which definitely will influence their type skills and language skills.It is horrible if you imagine one day everyone only send meme in social media.
Hi Xiaoyu,
ReplyDeleteI like the topic you choose! Just like Jing, I also use memes instead of typing, which in my opinion, sometimes it is more convenient and helps to express my feeling more accurately! I do feel like it may be a trend that will exists for a long time, but as Tra said, will it be a problem? I just feel it is the trend in this network generation and we cannot avoid that.