How text-heavy meme posts, often paired with nonsensical, low-quality images, have begun sweeping through Instagram, thanks largely to Gen-Z accounts
Fueled by Gen Z, text-heavy meme posts, often paired with nonsensically unrelated pictures, are turning the photo and video app into a destination for written expression. Tweets: @nyt_first_said , @whatitd0babey , @sansastarkss , @stevensonpj , @kyleclark , @zachpl , @oneunderscore__ , @oneunderscore__ , @bryanformhals , @noupside , @nicktagliaferro , @nicktagliaferro , @thechowderhead , @felixsalmon , @rmac18 , @nicktagliaferro , @taylorlorenz , and @revrrlewis Tweets: @nyt_first_said : shitposting Nuggetjesus / @whatitd0babey : i've started posting more unhinged content on my instagram stories instead of keeping it to my snapchat stories because i think it's funny to know my middle aged relatives are trying to decipher gen z memes about the despair of late capitalism Nicole / @sansastarkss : This is so early Tumblr and why anyone would want to go back to that I don't get it!!!! https://twitter.com/... Patrick Stevenson / @stevensonpj : with very few exceptions, everyone in politics is overinvested in Twitter and underinvested on Instagram https://twitter.com/... Kyle Clark / @kyleclark : This juvenile online behavior became a method to get elected to Congress in the waning days of the American Republic. https://twitter.com/... @zachpl : @oneunderscore__ reddit has good areas though, facebook is 100% shit Ben Collins / @oneunderscore__ : Facebook gets a lot of heat, but the true, unvarnished brainwormy antivaxx stuff on the civilian internet is on Reddit. Ben Collins / @oneunderscore__ : @ZachPL Both have good areas. It's much harder to stumble upon an explicitly antivaxx community on FB than Reddit right now, though, imo. @bryanformhals : Reminder that there are parts of Instagram that are the like the trendy neighborhood you never step foot in so are completely clueless about the customs and behaviors. https://twitter.com/... Renee DiResta / @noupside : How did it take this long https://twitter.com/... @nicktagliaferro : twitter is for people who were funny or gay in high school, tumblr is for awful theater kids who never missed a GSA meeting in high school, reddit is for weird nerds who never changed. as a consequence all three are fairly creative while instagram and facebook are bleak as hell @nicktagliaferro : instagram is for people who were hot in high school and returned to your hometown after college. facebook is for people who were popular in high school and never left your hometown. neither one exactly operates on a lot of brainpower Chowder / @thechowderhead : This bot scours the New York Times and records each time an author has used a word that has not been used before. Congratulations, everyone. The Paper of Record finally said Shitposting. https://twitter.com/... Felix Salmon / @felixsalmon : Congratulations to @TaylorLorenz who is officially the first person ever to get “shitposting” into the NYT, even the great David Segal couldn't get “shitcoin” into this https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ryan Mac🙃 / @rmac18 : Took me 2 weeks but https://twitter.com/... @nicktagliaferro : as always, instagram learns about a kind of internet humor several years after twitter, tumblr, and reddit figure it out https://www.nytimes.com/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : I did it 😌 https://twitter.com/... Bobby Lewis / @revrrlewis : congratulations to @TaylorLorenz on this moment in journalism history https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...