Venn diagrams are back and more viral than ever.
We’ve seen the resurgence of handshake memes in the last month, which use object labeling to show how different groups of people can agree on a topic. The meme began with stock photos of a business handshake before people started using other images, like a screengrab of the Predator handshake and stock photos of several hands crossed together. Another meme follows the same concept for the handshake meme but with a visual that people have been using since before the existence of the internet: a Venn diagram.
— adam (@adamklevy) August 20, 2018
The above Venn diagram, which Adam Levy posted to Twitter on Aug. 20, shows what preachers, DJs, and bank robbers have in common. Both DJs and bank robbers say “everybody on the floor,” while preachers and DJs say “are you with me?” All three groups say: “Put your hands up.”
The original tweet received more than 7,000 likes, but it was shared across multiple other Twitter accounts, inspiring jokes and edited versions of the Venn diagram.
I’ve never seen a better use of a Venn Diagram in this life. pic.twitter.com/zHyfyMG40l
— Alhaji Drunkard (@The_Nifemi) August 22, 2018
Are you even a DJ if you didn’t post that venn diagram about DJs and Bank Robbers
— MASONNEEDLADDER (@masonneedladder) August 23, 2018
People keep sending me this Venn diagram and it keeps evolving every time I can’t handle this one pic.twitter.com/L2m878bY7H
— Dom DiFurio (inactive) (@DomDiFurio) August 23, 2018
I added a layer to that “Put your hands in the air” Venn diagram going around. pic.twitter.com/1cvixMOyqg
— Matt Shirley (@mattsurely) August 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/Tweddit/status/1032434028987785216
https://twitter.com/stavvers/status/1032926554697936898
https://twitter.com/_ericcurtin/status/1032697184821497856
The realest Venn diagram pic.twitter.com/R0EhtVCeN2
— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) August 27, 2018
— pixelatedboat aka “mr tweets” (@pixelatedboat) August 23, 2018
So what’s the story behind this viral Venn diagram? Levy detailed the inspiration for it in a series of tweets last week. It started, as all the best ideas do, in a group text.
Whipped it together in google slides, achieved the lulz pic.twitter.com/jDCJI31AdF
— adam (@adamklevy) August 22, 2018
Levy created the diagram in Google Slides before a friend sent the image to a Facebook meme group.
Friend ( @jabyess ) sends to sister, posts in FB meme group
— adam (@adamklevy) August 22, 2018
From there, the diagram made it to Reddit.
made it to r/funny, 130K upvotes https://t.co/yOO1QmF44V
— adam (@adamklevy) August 22, 2018
most important take away from this is that it looks like the route was NOT twitter -> the world, but rather FB meme group -> the world. We’re downstream from them.
— adam (@adamklevy) August 22, 2018
That’s…not ideal.
The behind-the-scenes process of making a meme gain traction is not something that people usually divulge. Levy’s Venn diagram was originally posted to Twitter, but it went viral thanks to a Facebook meme group. After that, the image made it back to Twitter. And now people are busy making their own Venn diagrams. Apparently, this old-fashioned way of finding commonalities between different sets is still a good medium for telling jokes.
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