<![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, memes]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, memes]]> http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/memes http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/memes <![CDATA[U Can Haz Cheezburgur, World Dominashun, LOLZ at Other Starupz KTHXBYE]]> The I Can Haz Cheezburger guy, Ben Huh, got an AdAge profile. They've got 21 full-time employees, 30 blogs, and 11.5M visitors a month. They were profitable in their first quarter "almost entirely via ad networks and Google AdSense." [AdAge]

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<![CDATA[Stuff (Demographic Group) (Feeling) Meme Almost Entirely Used Up]]> "Stuff White People Like." It seemed so innocent for those first few hours. Now the whole format has been squeezed dry and used up like an old bottle of shampoo. Which is Something Hipsters Hate.

What do you get when you combine this dying meme with the other "Look At This Fucking Hipster" hating-hipsters-from-the-inside meme? You get Stuff Hipsters Hate, which is the type of Tumblr that you people will just keep sending us the link to until we write about it.

Here you are. Enjoy it while it lasts, because, god, [meta].

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<![CDATA[Have You Been Facesquatting?]]> Yes, Facesquatting: proportionally, the dirtiest term possible for the most inane thing it could be applied to, which, in this case, is taking a Facebook user name that's not yours. And now it's a hysterical, brainless internet meme.

The story behind the term, coined by blogger Anil Dash - who, with the Twitter proliferation of it, wants to see it used on CNN - goes something like this: as you might've heard, on Friday night, the "Nerd Reckoning" occurred. Facebook started allowing people to have "usernames" on the site to allow people more direct access to your (more individualized) profile by having a distinct URL (i.e. "facebook.com/yourname"). Unfortunately, the username is permanent. But not unfortunately, because hilarity ensues. Thus, the internerds found a new cute way to mess with each other by "squatting" on certain names. You could be like this young man, who chose something slightly less refined than his actual name to fit his profile.

Anyway. This is is DESTROYING FRIENDSHIPS, too. Take, for example, this young fellow, who decided it would be cute to take his friend's name.

So sad. Outrage! And hilarity. Anyway: Facebook is still fun, sometimes. I was going to do this to my profile but then realized that the change was permanent, though if any of you take it and put a silly picture up, I'll give you $5.

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<![CDATA[A brief history of all Internet memes ever]]> From "Greenoch — Greatest Martial Art of All Time," first posted by a Usenet rec.martial-arts contributor in 1991 to Paris Hilton's Presidential campaign commercial released this week, the below-embedded Dipity timeline features every meme and viral sensation you finally managed to forget.

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<![CDATA[Valleywag's 25 predictions for 2008]]> Valleywag is of course known for its dead-on accuracy, so our predictions for 2008 need no introduction. Inside, my 25 predictions (made without inside information) cover the futures of Facebook, Google, Digg, YouTube, Twitter, the Wall Street Journal, Apple, Yahoo, Gawker Media, AOL, Dell, LOLcats, the president, and more.

  1. Facebook stays independent and private, strikes a meaningful deal that legitimizes its business plan, and buys a startup.
  2. Born out of the writers' strike, at least one "Funny or Die" style site gets big buzz and maybe even gets bought, but it fails to produce any videos near the quality of FoD or Super Deluxe.
  3. Google releases some limited version of voice search beyond GOOG 411. During the year, the company's stock tops $800.
  4. Digg sells to a major media company for at least $200 million, and founder Kevin Rose starts a non-web-based company.
  5. YouTube announces it's adding HD video, but the feature doesn't arrive until 2009.
  6. Gawker Media, publisher of this site, starts a men's site and a Web show.
  7. Yahoo suffers major layoffs, leading the press to dub it the next AOL.
  8. Yet AOL is spun off and reframes itself. At the end of 2008, the company's future is still uncertain.
  9. Apple releases a second-generation iPhone, and at least one New York Times article tries to draw a "middle class/rich" line between those who upgrade and those who stick with the first generation.
  10. A new videoblogger emerges as the go-to example for slick independent daily vlogging, following Amanda Congdon and Ze Frank.
  11. Tumblr, the pared down blogging service, enjoys the popularity that 2007 brought Twitter.
  12. Twitter remains independent and spins off a new service.
  13. The Internet again fails to drive one presidential candidate to success. So does Chuck Norris.
  14. Jason Calacanis, still running his online directory Mahalo, starts another project.
  15. A new meme started in a geeky part of the web infiltrates the "normal" population even more deeply than LOLcats.
  16. Yet another e-book reader comes out and no one cares.
  17. Blog search engine Technorati collapses after failing to get enough funding to stay afloat.
  18. The Wall Street Journal announces it will soon be free online.
  19. Blog platform maker Six Apart, having spun off LiveJournal and rearranged its exec staff, gets bought.
  20. Dell screws up the good will it won in 2007 with another customer-service or bad-parts scandal.
  21. Net Neutrality takes another hit from a telco-friendly Congressional bill.
  22. Second Life plods along.
  23. The TechCrunch blog network lands a regular TV appearance, if not a show.
  24. The country tires of the last round of famous-for-being-famous celebs, and gossip blogger Perez Hilton's TV show gets cancelled.
  25. A minor medical incident renews the "can Apple survive without Steve Jobs" argument.
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