The outlet we chose to explore for our CrowdTangle search was BuzzFeed Video. We noticed memes were consistently trending within BuzzFeed Video. We chose one entitled: Questioning Parenting Skills. We saw the high numbers of engagement and believed it was due to humor and the meme being relatable. Everyone questions whether they’re doing things the right way when it comes to being a parent. Memes on BuzzFeed Videos are created to be relatable. Doing this, the audience can easily think of a similar experience they encountered while viewing the meme content.
We found our topic by typing in BuzzFeed and saw BuzzFeed Video. We thought it would be interesting to see the content they promote. While browsing, BuzzFeed’s Facebook page popped up with various graphics. When selecting the highest peak on CrowdTangle (highest trends traction), there was data from tons of meme content. The “Questioning Parenting Skills” meme stood out to us because the video was funny and reminded us of regular life obstacles. We also thought the post was easy to relate to, retweet, repost and enjoy for social reasons. The graph showed the numbers to the meme that were included as a top post. The post received over 811,046 total views, 3.7K shares, 3.2K comments, 3.5K reactions. The post went up on its’ original BuzzFeed page, Playful on October 15th. It was shared on BuzzFeed Video Facebook page 4 days later on October 18th. This helped the post gain more traction.
We learned it was trending because of how others could relate to the post as we scrolled through the comment section. It was so relevant that people started to share their own experience in the comments while sharing other info that related to questioning parenting skills.
We also learned memes are short and simple in the format of a picture or video. They run between 10 to 45 seconds and generate over 5 million views worldwide every week. It’s created to catch viewer’s attention and make them think of their own experience. It shows how relatable we desire to be with one another, especially when we share content with our friends. It makes us realize how connected we are through relatable digital content.
Group Members: Alexandria Bennett | Danielle Bulluck