Out of the blue, Severin started using our memes as his own Facebook profile picture and banner.
At first he never responded, but after we incessantly harassed him with memes, he began to comment with GIFs of his stunned reactions. I felt a little bad for him he was just some grown man doing research and continually being cyberbullied by teens. Suddenly, everyone took upon themselves to create their own memes, all making fun of Severin. (I later found out Severin is in fact very real). I posted a harmless message in the group about how I believed Severin was a fake man, expecting to get a few chuckles and maybe even some attention from the man himself. After some of my own research, I found out that Severin’s Facebook account was created the same day as the group itself. He had a weird-sounding name and a tragic taste in memes. The poor data researcher was the perfect target.
Wanting to post the first funny thing since the project started, I made a quick post poking fun at the one connection we all had: Severin. It seemed like a desperate attempt from Facebook to attract teen users by clumping ancient memes together and calling it “humor.” There was no original content whatsoever instead, the platform just stole memes from Twitter, Instagram and even iFunny - an older app solely made for meme-sharing.Īfter two weeks, the memes weren’t getting any funnier and the feedback wasn’t making an impact, so I took matters into my own hands. From our perspective, it was obvious there was no clear plan for the format of LOL. The group of teens was merciless in our criticism of the platform. His sad excuses for memes were stale and uncreative.
THE EXPERT MEME SERIES
Severin would post a series of memes to the group every day, and our job as “scouts” for the project was to rate the comedic value of each daily batch. Facebook hired him to collect data on responses to the Facebook LOL prototype. Once the research commenced, a user experience researcher named Severin introduced himself to the group. We felt special.Ĭonfidentiality was paramount in the research I had to sign a five-page non-disclosure agreement - one that has since been rendered null and void - and get a parent signature. We were all super eager to be let in on a classified Facebook secret. Filled with money-hungry, meme-obsessed teens like myself, the group members didn’t interact much at first, but soon they would become some of my closest friends. The Facebook Group - titled “What’s Funny?” - was like an alternate reality. Though I was reluctant to disclose my personal Facebook information and interact with other teenagers, I agreed once I was promised a $75 weekly stipend. I would be added to a Facebook group with around 100 other teenagers around the country who had been looped into this research scheme through the same sketchy ad I had responded to. Later that month, I received an email from a Facebook data researcher asking me to participate in the project. My parents always warned me to never click on suspicious advertisements or give my email away to strangers, but as a teen who likes memes and wants money, I simply couldn’t resist. It said something along these lines:Īre you a teen? Do you like memes? Do you want money? In early September 2018, I responded to the sketchiest ad of all time on Facebook. I first became involved with Facebook LOL through dubious means. Designers unimaginatively named the project “Facebook LOL.” These efforts included creating a meme-sharing page that mimicked popular humor-based apps but was run through the Facebook app itself. Knowing this, the company is working to attract teen users by creating new, engaging platforms. The app has seen a sharp decline in users, losing over 15 million users in the past two years. The past several years have been rocky for Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO the app has become a base for spreading misinformation, having possibly influenced the 2016 election outcomes and upsetting privacy breaches.
Most teens see Facebook as an app exclusively for their parents and grandparents. It was the best and most bizarre job I’ll ever have. For me, it was a side hustle.Įvery week for three months, Facebook paid me to tell a data researcher whether or not the memes he shared were funny. Working for Facebook would be a career highlight for most.