Attention collegiettes (in case you’ve spent the last week without internet because you lost your laptop or are buried in GB320 research)—there’s a new Facebook craze sweeping the Bentleycampus.
Bentley Memes, which describes itself as “an online collection of memes, lols, and ragecomics poking fun at the quirks of Bentley and its students” has quickly become the campus’ favorite distraction. In a week, it has exploded: 1,314 likes at last count. So what makes this page so wildly popular? We went straight to the source: page founder and Bentley sophomore Conner Charlebois.
HC Bentley: What prompted you to start Bentley Memes?
CC: I came across a site called 9gag.com over winter break, which is home to daily floods of memes and rage comics. I found these low effort, clever, low brow tidbits to be absolutely hilarious. I experimented making a few, but could never really create the same quality humor that I found on that site.
Last week I started to notice that University-focused memes were being around by my friends at home in Toronto. I thought to myself, what a great idea! What if there were a collection of memes with a Bentley theme? There should definitely be one of those!
So I made a Facebook page and started trying to come up with some better memes. I have to admit, the first few that I came up with weren’t too great; and my first fans were my close friends. I was able to make 3 or 4 good clever memes, and I decided that then would be the best time to start inviting more people. I invited all my friends, and four days and 745 likes later, the page has been featured in BostInno, and here I am replying to your questions.
HC Bentley: Why do you think the page has gotten so popular so quickly?
CC: To be completely honest, I have no idea. My goal was never to create anything large scale, just a place for people to share cool memes that they find. All I can say is that humor is a much overlooked power, and I think the community that has sprouted from this is great! The page has become a place for students to create and share their own thoughts about the quirks of Bentley, and to find a little humor in the thoughts or ideas of others.
The great thing about meme humor is that memes are so easy to make! Lots of sites allow users to caption their own pictures, and save them to their own computer. I guess to answer your question more directly, the site has grown quickly because it is a sort of open forum for students to let their thoughts be known, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t like a good laugh?
HC Bentley: Which Bentley Meme is your favorite?
CC: I think my favorite would have to be a toss-up between this one about the library and outside the library being like two different countries:
and this one about the food at seasons:
HC Bentley: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers?
CC: I’d really like to thank everyone who’s contributed to the page. The amount of support I’ve had from friends and the number of people who’ve taken it upon themselves to create and share their own memes is incredible. I couldn’t be happier with the turnout from students! Being able to look at the page and laugh a little bit to myself is a great feeling. A little humor can go an awfully long way!
While no one can know how long the Meme trend will continue, it has definitely become a source of entertainment for many students and has brought together students as they like and laugh over Bentley’s inside jokes and shared feelings.
Of course, it’s important to remember that they are to be taken lightly and to keep in mind that anything you put online is there forever. When stereotypes are taken too far or become offensive, they can cause a lot of damage. However, so far the memes have generally avoided this pitfall and we hope they will continue to do so. With that being said, I think Bentley Memes are a unique way for us business students to express our creativity and share some laughs.
And my personal favorites?
What do YOU think of the latest Bentley Meme craze?
*All opinions are solely of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Her Campus Media or Bentley University.