Trumblog

Not content to let search engines and Twitter to have all the fun dissecting the year that was, Facebook combed through status updates and rather than a list of specific things that we were talking about to generate a list of memes from 2009.

1. Facebook Applications – Specific words: Farmville, Farm Town, Social Living
2. FML – Specific word: FML
3. Swine Flu – Specific words: Flu, Swine Flu, H1N1
4. Celebrity Deaths – Specific words: Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Billy Mays
5. Family – Specific words: Family, Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter, Kids
6. Movies – Specific words: New Moon, Transformers, Star Trek, The Hangover, Paranormal Activity and Harry Potter
7. Sports – Specific words: Steelers, Yankees
8. Health Care – Specific words: Health Care, No one should have to…
9. FB – Specific words: FB, FB Friends, News Feed
10. Twitter – Specific words: Twitter, RT
11. Years – Specific words: 2008, 2009, 2010
12. Lady Gaga – Specific words: Gaga, Poker Face
13. Yard – Specific word: Yard
14. Religion – Specific words: Easter, Lord, God
15. I – Specific words: I, is

My initial reaction to this list was “memes?” Is “movies” a meme or a topic?  And while comparing 2009 activity to 2008 and measuring “bursts” seems like a valid way of reviewing what made this year special, did we really talk more about sports this year than last and does the inclusion of “years” in this list really tell us anything meaningful?  But as I thought about it the concept has grown on me a bit and I offer some thoughts about the meaning of each individual “meme” in the list rather than comparing them to each other.

Some Things Are Eternal

We will always talk about celebrity deaths, family, movies, and sports. These are the touchstones of small talk and culture and therefore it’s no wonder that they populate our status updates ranking 4, 5, 6, and 7.  The religion meme is similar (holidays being touch points where we celebrate, gather and discuss), but I wonder how many mentions of God and Lord are appeals to a higher power versus using the Lord’s name in vain.  Maybe I just am not friends with enough religious people.

I place years in this category too.  We will always talk about the year that was, is and will be.  Next year at this time I suspect that the specific words in this category will all be one digit higher, “2009, 2010 and 2011.”

Quirks Of The System

Facebook’s system, how we update it and page layout all impact what we talk about as must as the events of the day. Does the fact that Facebook Applications are the top of this list mean that we talk about Facebook apps a lot or that Facebooks apps annoyingly populate our status updates too much.  I suspect the latter.  The same is true of Twitter in the number 10 spot.  Considering the number of people who import their Tweets to Facebook and the brouhaha over Twitter’s Retweet functionality it’s no wonder that these words leak into Facebook.  Of course the fact that this was the year of Twitter doesn’t hurt either.  With Twitter’s new retweet functionality doing away with the RT prefix and the buzz over Twitter bound to subside I wonder if that meme will still be around next year.

Then there is the last meme of the list, “I.” Facebook says that the new format that removed our name from before our status update changed the first word of most updates from “is” to “I” practically overnight.  Thus it’s appearance would seem to just be a fluke, but then again how could talking about ourselves not be a meme on Facebook? It’s probably number one and always will be, especially if you consider that those Facebook applications are all giving updates on what we’re doing.

The Year That Was

Swine Flu, Healthcare and Lady Gaga.  Those are the meme’s from 2009 that were prevalent and lasting enough to break through.  Wow, I clearly had no idea the impact that Lady Gaga was having on our culture.

Which leaves us with…

FML and yard.

If you don’t know, FML stands for “F*** My Life” and is used to indicate self knowledge of some calamity that has taken place in regards to oneself.  For example:

Today, my boyfriend and I celebrated our five-year anniversary. I got him a new flat-screen TV. He got me toilet seat cover. FML

Obviously there’s a FML website.  This my friends ia a true internet meme.

Yard mentions, Facebook explains, increased enormously in 2009 due to the growth of Facebook among the older set.  The ones in the suburbs.  The ones with yards.  Which brings us full circle back to this year’s popularity of Facebook apps like Farmville and (Lil) Green Patch.