As an international student from Shanghai, I access both Chinese and English social networks on my spare time. This allowed me to observe an interesting phenomenon on the internet where many of my friends started sharing Rage comics in both languages around the same time. What intrigued me the most was that these comics were trending all over the world and not just in North America on different social networks including Facebook, 9gag, YouTube and renren (a Chinese site). This sparked my curiosity into finding out where these comics originated. I learned that they are an Internet meme expressing rage or other simple emotions.

One might ask: why are these comics so popular? This is because they humorize shared experiences and people can relate to them in their daily life. Traditionally, comics are spread in hard copy or via Web 1.0 which allows people to read but not comment in contrast to the current Web 2.0 which allows viewers to comment and share information with friends. Nowadays, the use of Web 2.0 opens up the possibility for information and other content to go viral. Furthermore, Rage Guy’s topic range is very broad and can be applied to a range of situations and communities. For example, UBC has our own meme that highlights Vancouver’s culture and the mentality of UBC students. Another feature of this internet meme is that they are simple enough so fans can interact with one another by creating their own comics and sharing them with friends. I believe that social networks provide a platform for cultural exchange and have become a vital channel to obtain information. Mark Skolnik’s blog post titled “Botching and Sharpening Social Media” elaborates that many are addicted to the internet especially social networks. This   relates to the Rage Guy comics and explains how they went viral at such a rapid pace.

Here is a link to UBC memes on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ubcmemes