It's a meme world

   Expressions of complaints and jokes about Chapman have gone viral with students through Facebook.

   The Chapman Memes Facebook page has earned more than 1,800 Facebook "likes" since it was created Feb. 8 by an anonymous group of students during a Philosophy 101 class.

   Memes are pictures with writing on them made to express a common feeling or thought in a humorous way. Found on many social media and blogging sites as a form of humor with no known origin, memes have been growing in popularity, especially through the popular website reddit.com. The Chapman page has become popular to the campus community because it is an easy way for students to share inside jokes.

   Lauren Chouinard, a junior public relations and advertising major, has created memes on reddit.com and has been contributing to the Chapman Memes site.

   "A meme is like an Internet inside joke. Each meme has its own formula and with that formula it can poke fun about anything," Chouinard said. "Different memes can be about different subjects and their purpose it to make people laugh and make fun of things in our lives. They aren't meant to be malicious or serious."

   Chapman has two Chapman Memes Facebook pages. Each claims to be the first. While they have identical names, one has almost four times the number of "likes." The first post on the more popular Chapman Memes page came two hours before the other.

   The original page encourages students to make memes that are relevant to Chapman at quickmeme.com and post to its Facebook. Popular memes joke about a Chapman student's way of life, from difficulties with WebAdvisor to purchasing alcohol at Hoove's, on the corner of Glassell Street and Walnut Avenue.

    "I like them because they talk about things that I thought only I thought about," said Carmen Carrillo, a sophomore sociology and peace studies major. "I wouldn't complain because I thought maybe I'm the only one who's gotten the wrong order every time at [World of Wings] or couldn't open the door at Argyros [Forum]. Now I know I'm not."

   Carrillo said she saw her friends talking about the page on her Facebook and liked it when there were already about 1,200 likes.

   "It's like first world problems that are funny because we all experienced them," Carrillo said.

   Mark Matthews, a sophomore broadcast journalism major, said he found out about Chapman Memes because his friends were posting about it.

   "It's a different form of jokes that everyone tells about Chapman about mostly trivial stuff," Matthews said. "People complain about parking spots or not liking food. I think people post to get attention and get appreciation for their jokes."

   Spencer Chelwick, a senior integrated educational studies major, said the posts are generally about trivial issues.

   "It's more fun to make fun of the little things," she said. "Chapman's so perfect, we lash out about WOW or how the soft serve machine is always broken at the cafeteria."

   Other universities also have meme Facebook pages, including UCLA, Azusa Pacific University, Loyola Marymount University and Brigham Young University.

   "It's definitely a fad," said Tatiana Cafaro, a freshman communications major. "I think they're funny, but after a point, I get tired of them."