Right now, our very own Clark University is experiencing a groundswell phenomena of its own. A Facebook page popped up last week, called Clark University Memes.
Clarkie's have been posting various humorous memes, all centered around one subject: Clark University. Facebook went nuts. All of my newsfeed were different memes, each more funny, but more importantly, more relatable than the last.
But what does this mean for Clark? What would happen if perspective students saw this? Would "becoming fabulous" entice them or scare them away?
I think that these memes are a good thing. Even the more negative ones. The most negative topics considered in the meme's seem to revolve around either Main South being a not-so-safe place to live and the cafeteria food being, well...
Before I came to Clark, I certainly knew that Main South was dangerous. In fact, I thought it was a lot worse than I do now. I definitely did not expect much from cafeteria food, given that it is cafeteria food.
So thinking back 5 years to when I was a high school senior, I still would have come to Clark. In fact, these memes would have made me more excited to come (and I was pretty excited!)
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| 17-year-old me finding out that Clark was giving me a scholarship. SO excited! |
The meme-phenomena that has taken the campus by storm this week may be, to some, getting old. To others, it is a fun, exciting way to share creativity. To think of silly-Clark things and see how many other people think of those things to. Like the penguin meme above about climbing the stairs in JC. A friend of mine and I used to joke about this constantly, but we thought we were the only ones out of shape enough to actually get winded going to class. Nope, there's a meme about it now, and that means its real.
Clarkies, the groundswell, feel passionate and connected enough to the University right now to spend their spare, non-class time (or rather, procrastination time) making memes about Clark University. That's kinda huge. They're not about one particular facet or person. Other schools that are experiencing this sort of thing are in danger of all of their memes concentrating on social life such as a frat or sorority. Clark is a small enough community, however, where one meme can relate to a whole campus of people. Pretty cool.
One group that I am, Choices, a sexual education group, will momentarily be rolling out an unofficial meme-inspired Facebook campaign. It will remind Clarkies that they have this awesome sex ed group here on campus that has a whole lot to offer! This is a campaign that will seem like it is a part of the groundswell. I suggested doing this when I realized, hey, this thing is getting big. If its getting big then that means that Clarkie's will see our meme's, and will have a quick way to learn about what Choices offers.
Now we just need to sit back and see how the groundswell reacts.
Maxie you raise such interesting points! As a Scarlet Key Tour Guide/Panelist at Clark myself, while laughing at the different memes on Facebook, I never thought about the implications these portrayals have on the way perspective students view Clark. At admissions we work so hard to dispel rumor about Main South being unsafe and really try to promote the different food options, but these funny snippets could unfortunately make students actually questions what we say! This could pose major issues for the admissions office and really hurt Clark’s image in the wider community.
ReplyDeleteI really think you put the whole meme phenomenon in perspective with this post! I agree that these memes create a sense of community by creating jokes around shared experiences. I had never thought about how these memes could be used as tools to spread a particular message like you are doing with your group Choices and I think it is a very smart way to promote your group. Memes are a quick, accessible and fun way to spread a message but there is always the risk of over exposure and people tuning it out after a certain point.
ReplyDeleteThe meme page is really funny, but I like it when you mention how perspective students would perceive this. Kinda remind me of the "What my friends/parents/society think I do" series on Facebook recently. It seems to me that a community may be interesting to its own members, however, since everyone else can also see this, there's also a lot more that need to be consider.
ReplyDeleteI have been in that page of Facebook. It's exciting! I can not imagine to that can exist in my first university in Russia. It's amazing!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Clark memes would probably not have meant much to me as an perspective student, but in general I think they are pretty silly. Some of them are really good, but I was surprised that so many of them popped up so quickly.
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