KONY 2012

Non-profit organization Invisible Children Inc. have made themselves very visible with their viral online campaign KONY 2012. For the uninitiated, KONY 2012 is a campaign focused on the capture and removal of Ugandan guerrilla group leader and head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony. The aim of the organization is to promote Kony and make a big enough fuss about it that the American government sends in

On February 20th 2012, Invisible Children released a video documentary on Vimeo highlighting the crimes of Joseph Kony and urged people to contribute to the campaign to remove Kony. The methods for contribution include making Kony famous through social media and writing requests to government.

Here is the youtube version of the documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

The Kony 2012 campaign has seemingly been a success with the video on Vimeo notching 7 million views in two weeks and the youtube version currently at over 80 million views. Notable celebrities have also endorsed the campaign such as Justin Bieber.

Twitter has also featured trending hashtags including #Kony2012 and #StopKony.

The Kony 2012 campaign is an example of a media campaign gone viral and every piece of promotional material for Kony be it a tweet or poster can be considered a unique meme furthering the cause Invisible Children are fighting for.

Linsanity

Asian basketball sensation Jeremy Lin has launched a new internet craze with his breakout performances for the New York Knicks this season. His rapid rise to prominence has also begun an internet meme based on mixing Lin's name with common words.



Enter the Linsanity. The term was first used as a # on Twitter with no definite origin. The #Linsanity hit its trending peaks on Twitter on February 10th in a game between the New York Knicks and the L.A. Lakers which saw Lin hit 38 points and propel his team to victory. Since then, the #Linsanity has been used to refer to the internet buzz surrounding Lin's meteoric rise, anything from live play by play tweeting during his matches to his consecutive appearances on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Linsanity is not the only Linspired word floating around the internet. Numerous Lin based puns have made it into media articles and user posts. Here is a list of the top ten Linspired words.

Linsanity is now an official word in the Oxford English dictionary after accruing the requirements of "25,000 citations across the breadth of the English-speaking world, with the requisite depth of usage in books, journals and periodicals, on the Internet, blogosphere, social media, and in the top 75,000 global print and electronic media."

The level of buzz generated by Lin's NBA rise has been unprecedented, and much of that is due to the #Linsanity and the ability of social media to spread the story of a worldwide phenomenon.

Just in case you've been living under a rock, here's the game that launched the Linsanity and made Jeremy Lin a global star.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iWWFk6TX18

Angelina Jolie's Right Leg

The Oscars this year left us with more than we bargained for. This iconic image of Angelina Jolie standing with her right leg exposed has spawned numerous memes to the amusement of many.



The absurdity of the meme which has mutated in various ways including the symmetrical variation and octopi garnered 12,000 followers on Twitter with the handle @Angie's Right Leg the night of the Oscars.



 

 

Jolie's leg has since been found everywhere on the planet and even the moon, with the infamous moon landing picture featuring her photoshopped leg. The meme is a typical type of meme in which an original photo is altered to amusing effect.

The meme has also launched a new internet phenomenon known as leg-bombing, in which Jolie's leg is superimposed into other iconic photos. The moon landing picture is an example of that, and here's one which is my personal favorite. A leg bomb of the Beatles' cover Abbey Road.