Some say the universe began with the Big Bang. In a way, the ‘SU Memes’ page wasn’t all that different.

The ‘SU Memes’ page had more than 1,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook within 12 hours of its creation Feb. 7.

Creator Jeremy Strege, a sophomore advertising and psychology major, had simply wanted the page to reach 100 likes.

Mission accomplished.

Strege was inspired by a similar page dedicated to Boston College students. Students posted memes, small generic photos frequently shared among people. They often include text that appeal to a specific audience. Strege saw the appeal in the page despite being an outsider to the inside jokes.

‘They were pretty funny, and I didn’t get any of the references,’ said Strege. ‘So I thought if we made a Syracuse one it could be pretty popular, too.’

With the help of his roommates, Strege contributed the first few memes. He soon allowed the site to be completely public, and he made it possible for anyone to post SU memes to the wall. The site has since accumulated hundreds of memes posted by multiple users. Strege reflected on his favorite of all the memes posted thus far and immediately started laughing.

‘Have you seen the Zoolander one?’ he said and continued to laugh as he recited the punch line: ‘What is this, a school for plants?’

While many students were amused by the memes — the Facebook page has more than 4,800 likes — some criticized the direction the page took when such a large number of people began posting freely.

‘It’s kind of blown up,’ said Allan Duso, a sophomore television, radio and film major. ‘Now if you go on the Facebook page and you try to search through it, it’s hard to find the good ones. It’s a lot of clutter now.’

Despite his frustration with the overflow of memes on the page, Duso was able to find a few diamonds in the rough and smiled at a particular meme featuring Mufasa and Simba from ‘The Lion King.’ The meme compares Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry to Pride Rock and the Elephant Graveyard from the film, respectively.

Brian Burr, a sophomore advertising major, also appreciated the competitive nature of ‘The Lion King’ meme.

‘My favorite part is the whole Syracuse, ESF battle,’ Burr said. ‘The comments are even funnier than what the meme actually is.’

There was one person who was not surprised by the sudden success of the SU memes: Anthony Rotolo, a professor in the School of Information Studies. Rotolo’s classes focus on social media, and he is well acquainted with the concept of the meme.

‘The best memes actually connect with a shared experience, oftentimes in real life,’ Rotolo said. ‘SU memes is the same thing.’

Not only was Rotolo an expert of social media concepts such as the meme, he was also the inspiration for one on the SU page. He laughed while recalling the moment when a student who noticed a Rotolo-class-inspired meme brought it to his attention.

The meme showed a baby pumping his fist in excitement over the idea that the Twitterfeed for Rotolo’s class was no longer visible. Despite the mocking nature of the meme, Rotolo was not at all bothered. Oo the contrary, he was excited.

‘At least we’re reaching people,’ he said. ‘Any reference this class gets with SU memes is flattering.’

SU memes continue to be posted each day, depicting all sorts of Syracuse-related topics. Rotolo interprets the success of this phenomenon as a positive thing.

‘As of right now I think it’s a great expression by students,’ Rotolo said. ‘I think if we walk that line between funny and going too far, it’s a great aspect of campus life.’

cedebais@syr.edu

Published on February 15, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chelsea: cedebais@syr.edu | @CDeBaise124