V God Girl: A Brief Thought Behind the Spread of Meme Images

1. Cause of the meme incident

In the past few days, if you are a surfer or a melon eater, you should have seen a photo of Vitalik Buterin and a girl being widely circulated. As for the girl in the photo, it was originally a very ordinary photo for commemoration. Unexpectedly, it was spread to WeChat groups and then to Twitter and became a meme on the whole network. It is considered social death on the Internet. At the same time, I am also afraid that such a spoof will have a bad impact on Vitalik Buterin personally. However, as this incident spreads on the Internet, it is found that it has become a meme. Most people's attention is just for fun and entertainment without any malice, and a lot of creativity has emerged in this process. People in the web3 encryption circle have joined in the construction of this meme. As a personal participant of this event, and as an investment institution person from an occupational disease perspective, I really want to think and interpret the reasons behind the popularity? The Web3 culture reflected behind this event has become very interesting after thinking about it. It made me go from not understanding to embracing the community culture, and better understand what a meme is, why it spreads, and what is reflected behind it, so I wrote these words to share some thoughts with you:

2. What is a meme and what are its properties?

Meme is simply a meme, which is the academic usage of "stalk". For contemporary Internet users, whether it is web2 or web3, we are playing with and creating memes every day when surfing. This has become a social language and a way of greeting. Meme has replaced language and become a more universal symbolic currency, shaping the consensus of Internet users. The consensus of this meme is that a group of people can immediately get its meaning on the Internet when they see this picture. This consensus makes the Internet enjoy creating memes every day.

3. Why does this photo become a meme?

1. The protagonist is a benchmark figure in the crypto community . This meme is about Vitalik. Everyone in the crypto community or many Internet users know Vitalik, who has more than 4 million Twitter followers. The person the meme is spreading to must be well-known. Everyone likes to spoof Vitalik, Elon Mask, and other well-known big names. These are the unique meme benchmark figures in the crypto community, so they are very popular.

2. The timing is special - Ethereum 2.0 Merge has just caught up with the hotspot, and the price of Ethereum has fluctuated greatly. The word "pump" in English culture is a pun, which describes both "physiological reaction" and the price of the currency, and expresses everyone's high expectations and attention to the upcoming Ethereum POS. The price of $eth has risen during that period. I wonder if this meme picture has more or less relationship with it.

3. The funnier the secondary creation, the easier it is to spread - the contrast of traditional stereotypes - Traditionally, everyone's impression of Vitalik Buterin is a geek, and his clothes are very weird when he attends various occasions. And Vitalik Buterin is basically the label of Ethereum, so topics like Vitalik Buterin and girls can easily cause people to make jokes, which will cause ripples of communication.

4. There are not many hot spots in the recent bear market , so memes are needed to create entertainment topics

3. My observations on the path of transmission of this incident

Communication path: accidentally posted to Moments - major WeChat groups - Weibo - Twitter KOL - Twitter secondary creation - blockchain media - Telegram, Discord group chat - web2 social media such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, public video accounts and other channels. The netizens who come to greet me here can be roughly divided into two categories:

1. The first category is those who surf the first line and eat melons faster than I do. Most of them are friends in the crypto circle. For example, there are discussions on Twitter by overseas KOLs. Some send me the melons as soon as possible. Some people know that others have minted the NFT of this picture and send it to me as soon as possible. There are also people with good network sense who issued the NFT of Vitalik Pump to free mint and make money the next day. I have to sigh how great the influence of Twitter is in the crypto circle. It can spread a picture without borders and circles at will. It is the fastest dissemination path for information sources. No wonder Musk wants to acquire Twitter

2. The second category is those who surf the second line slowly. They will send messages after 2 or 3 days. Most of them are web2 friends. The sources of channels are some social media software such as Instagram and TikTok. This can slightly explain that the source of information for web2 people is still the mainstream Instagram and TikTok. So the interesting point of meme here is that these web3 people in the encryption circle can be linked together with web2 people because of a meme. If you want to break the circle, you still have to let these web2 people involve in and get in touch with this information. Meme is a good way to get out of the circle, so many projects want to be the intermediate state of Web2.5 to get more traffic and attention.

4. My observations on meme construction

My previous understanding: pure spoof, nonsensical, funny

Now realize that:

1. The creation rights of MEME returned to the Web3 community. When this picture was posted to my circle of friends, I lost any influence on this matter. MEME already belongs to the community. Because of this picture, everyone in the global currency circle was discussing Vitalik Buterin on the same day. As a witness, I have more respect for the power of the community. Meme can transcend language, community, and global communication . Meme contains everyone's original understanding of this matter, which reveals the understanding of the essence of this matter and expectations for the future. For example, everyone hopes that Vitalik Buterin will have a stronger influence on merge, etc. I believe that the heat of this matter will soon pass, and new memes will appear every day. It is these endless memes that build our industry. Meme is a vital part of community culture.

2. It is very important to make a good product in the web3 world. Only with a good product can word of mouth spread and image be shaped . The core of the spread of this picture is not me or the photographer, but because he is Vitalik, he has made the best product, and everyone has good expectations of him.

3. In order to activate the community in the Web3 world, a vibrant MEME is also very important. The community will spontaneously spread and re-create. The watertight PR drafts in the traditional Web2 world have no vitality in the web3 world.

5. Final Conclusion

As a pioneer and builder of the entire industry, we will always respect and admire V God. I believe that I am just one of the many Ethereum believers. We believe that code is law, smart is the new sexy, and respect these extremely smart and slightly cute GEEK developers.

We look forward to the new development of Ethereum 2.0 Merge towards POS. We also welcome everyone to pay attention to and support the digital and physical versions of Vitalik Buterin’s new book "Proof of Stake", which will be published, recording his 10 years. Readers can donate to it on Gitcoin and obtain digital copies and commemorative NFTs. All proceeds will be used for public welfare, and a non-transferable SBT (soul binding) can be generated.

Purchase and Donate Website:

https://proofofstake.gitcoin.co/