FB Meme

"Meme" might not be the right word for it, but there is a trend on Facebook right now where people take a particular status posting and replicate it as theirs. This usually take the form of "I appreciate my mother/daughter/father/son/goldfish/car and if you do too, post this in your status." Lately, they've become more militant with some adding, "93 percent of people won't dare to post this; will you be brave enough?" And I say, BS.

First of all, the number is arbitrary. Was there a market study done to prove that 93 percent of people truly had issues with whatever the status had to the point they didn't want to replicate it in their status? Or is it more the case that people like me aren't interested in regurgitating canned Hallmark-esque statuses? Second, the inherent dare is kind of silly; a copy and pasting into Facebook status isnt' a singular act of courage in anyway and most of these meme-thingies are inane and sacchrine enough that you're actually going to offend anyone at all (though some people are, admittedly, easily offended).

I find these types of status updates annoying because they are redundant, ineffective, and useless. Of course, you could say the same about most status updates (and I'm not excluding my own either), but these are especially conversation stoppers. There's really no response required, other than perhaps imitation, and even if there is a response, how many times can you possibly read and respond to the same status? I imagine the motivation behind such redundant statuses has everything to do with accumulating a certain level of support, but to what end? And wouldn't it be more meaningful to write your own words of appreciation rather than copying something? I'm guessing 98 percent of you aren't brave enough to answer.