5 ms·

What's the Best App for Making Memes?

38 points by prostoalex 8y ago

theshrike79 8y ago
At what point did "Meme" start to mean any image with text in it?
- joeblau 8y ago
  Exactly Image Macro != Meme But I think we lost this battle.
  - sp332 8y ago
    They're expanding beyond just image macros. Especially the surreal ones, or https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/deep-fried-memes https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/deep-fried-memes
    - SteveParker60 8y ago
      GIGANTIC SCREEN-OBSCURING POP-UP. INSTANT BACK BUTTON.
  - drb91 8y ago
    What's a macro?
    - astura 8y ago
      https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/image-macros https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/image-macros "The term "image macro" was first coined in Something Awful[2] in 2004. In the forums, users could summon a number of default image macros using simple commands like [img – macro], for example, timelines, "Aces!" and "Captain Obvious to the Rescue!" images. The name is derived from the computer scientific definition of a macro: a rule or pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence should be mapped to an output sequence according to a defined procedure. The earliest definition of an image macro was submitted by SomethingAwful forum user Eclipse[3] on February 12th, 2004."
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - drb91 8y ago
        But image "macro" memes are far older than the internet--consider the classic cat meme, 'Hang in there!': https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TQ1YdQYNL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TQ1YdQYNL... Hell, you could consider print advertising to be a form of image "macros". We need a better name that is descriptive or at least doesn't sound so abstract and far removed from the virality/humor aspect.
- 21 8y ago
  About the same time with "drone" and "crypto". Language is defined by usage, not by what you think is correct.
  - grimbly 8y ago
    Statements are not true simply because you state them.
- jklinger410 8y ago
  Memes are a meme twilightzonetheme.wma
- dokem 8y ago
  A meme is anything that traverses socially.
  - Jedd 8y ago
    > A meme is anything that traverses socially. Even if that's a sufficient and satisfactory explanation, it doesn't address either the claim of TFA, or parent's question. What app do you use to traverse socially ... ? Text overlaid on an image is not inherently a meme - even if the bot that made it shares it on instagram.
- brian-armstrong 8y ago
  "As Memes Evolve, Journalists Are Struggling To Keep Up"
- Kagerjay 8y ago
  Probably around the time more complex "infographic" memes started surfacing, to my knowledge these are fairly new (1-2years). Memes have always been short and simple
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Varcht 8y ago
  The self described "first online meme generator", memegenerator.net. Showed up circa 2009, so, before that?
- fouc 8y ago
  memes are memes of memes.
- Nadya 8y ago
  I'm an ancient meme historian. I specialize in memes before memes became dank. The definition transitioned from "viral internet jokes" to "image intended to be funny". Some memes are just edited screenshots of Twitter posts or other viral images. "Text intended to be funny" is a subset of memes referred to as "greentext"; due to 4chan quotes being used for storytelling and the text being green. The transition period went from Image macro --> Demotivational Posters --> Trollface/Rage Comics --> 4 panel comics --> Memes. This took place over the time period of 2004-2009 and really took off with sharing images over Twitter as the ability to get a viral image became easier.
  - 2bitencryption 8y ago
    > I specialize in memes before memes became dank. Now's my chance to ask a professional: when did memes become "dank"? Mid-2012?
    - Nadya 8y ago
      Sometime in 2014 a Reddit post became popular using the gnome child from Runescape [0]. This was likely the first dank meme and a catalyst for what was to come. Using Google Trends [1] you can even identify that late 2013 a few people were already looking for dank memes, but it wasn't until late 2014 when memes started becoming dank. The dankest they ever were was in October and November of 2016 - they've become less dank over time but the economists over in /r/memeeconomy keep their eyes out on /r/dankmemes for the latest and dankest memes to add to their portfolios. It's a thriving industry with lots of karma to be had - it takes experts to identify a dank meme before it is ripe. [0] https://vgy.me/lCZkJ0.png https://vgy.me/lCZkJ0.png [1] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%22dank%20meme%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%...
      - dplgk 8y ago
        Memes were dank way before that. Even on reddit. Scumbag Steve, etc.
tomc1985 8y ago
And this is why memes sucks now... people take it way too seriously. Four different apps? Most of this stuff could be done with only Paint.net.
- sotojuan 8y ago
  It seems people want to be doing this on their phone - that's the problem.
  - onion2k 8y ago
    The sort of people who make memes often only have a phone.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      Damn, that was my thought exactly!
6cd6beb 8y ago
Photoshop. or Gimp. I mean it's superimposing text, possibly at different fonts, sizes, angles; then combining various images, again possibly at different rotations, and then applying filters. Tools exist for this. A "meme making app" made sense when it was just top and bottom text over an image, but these people are basically saying they want a heavyweight image editor.
- soared 8y ago
  You think elementary schoolers and other non-techies are going to either pay $15/mo for photoshop or delve into the ux dungeon that is Gimp? Not a chance.
  - jessaustin 8y ago
    The elementary school filters probably block all the gimps.
whalesalad 8y ago
This is great. There is a huge opportunity to create an app to create modern-day memes. They all have certain aesthetics. Many of them follow templates that are correlated with the content. Some earn their cred from simply having a certain over-compressed JPEG vibe. I'll admit I am addicted to surfin memes. My wife and I will sit for hours in silence, passing them back and forth and just laughing constantly. So, to all the folks here saying GIMP or MSPaint and call it a day ... you are missing the boat. The modern-day instagram/twitter memes are an entirely new vector of communication. The bar is getting lower, it will get lower, and there is a way to capitalize on this. One day soon an app will exist that will allow you to make memes the same way instagram allows you to tap one finger and make a photo look like it was taken on a polaroid camera. If you do it right to where you can produce content like heckoffsupreme, sonny5ideup, tanksinatra, middleclassfancy, gayvapeshark, etc... with a few taps and some original verbage you'd make a killing. Also super glad to see heckoffsupreme get an honorable mention. They are some of the best, no doubt.
- calhoun137 8y ago
  I do not disagree with you that there is a huge vacuum in the market for a good meme making app and that this will be extremely profitable for whoever gets it right and is able to execute and build a large user base. That being said, as someone who has been making memes for 6+ years I can tell you hands down no mobile app will ever compare to the power of photoshop, or GIMP for that matter. Even if it was possible for a mobile app to do everything photoshop can do, the small screen size and touch screen interface is a huge issue that can't be solved without plugging a mouse + keyboard into a tablet, at which point, just use a computer. There is an interesting phenomenon that the younger generation is so enamored with mobile apps and devices that many of them don't realize how certain use cases/work flows simply are always going to be way better on a desktop or a laptop. I would characterize your comment as saying its possible to profit off of the ignorance of a certain subset of today's 15-25 year old's when it comes to this fact. I know there are so many brilliant people in this generation who are going to be sick nerds one day. But lots of others only interact with computers via their phones and don't even realize how silly they are being by refusing to make memes on a laptop.
bonniemuffin 8y ago
I find /r/surrealmemes fascinating, but never really thought about the lack of tools for hacking stuff like that together.
mirimir 8y ago
Someone ought to do app for blocking memes. Something like AdBlock Plus or uMatrix.
calhoun137 8y ago
"some memers have found the current suite of mobile applications so lacking that they choose to create their memes on desktop computers instead. “On your phone, you’re never going to be able to do as much as you could as on a computer,” says Noam, who memes under the account @listenintospitandgettingparamoredon. Ronnie, who memes under the handle @mspainttrash, is part of a group of meme makers that works exclusively in MS Paint." Finally I thought, a voice of reason! Someone is going to mention GIMP or photoshop. But then they go straight for MS Paint and then totally ignore the idea of using a desktop to make memes and go right back to the "problem" that you need 4 apps to make a shitpost. LOL! Someone tell these kids about GIMP please
mrieck 8y ago
I made a cartoon maker that allows the mashup of memes: https://www.superanimo.com/ https://www.superanimo.com/ I'm making a bet that the future of memes are short videos that tell more of a story than a simple image macro. Hopefully I can turn SuperAnimo into an app someday but right now it's just a buggy website no one uses. It's still my favorite project though - so I'll keep plugging away at features and maybe one day I'll get some users.
crtasm 8y ago
Memetastic on f-droid works well!

38 points by prostoalex 8y ago

theshrike79 8y ago

At what point did "Meme" start to mean any image with text in it?

joeblau 8y ago
Exactly Image Macro != Meme But I think we lost this battle.
- sp332 8y ago
  They're expanding beyond just image macros. Especially the surreal ones, or https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/deep-fried-memes https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/deep-fried-memes
  - SteveParker60 8y ago
    GIGANTIC SCREEN-OBSCURING POP-UP. INSTANT BACK BUTTON.
- drb91 8y ago
  What's a macro?
  - astura 8y ago
    https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/image-macros https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/image-macros "The term "image macro" was first coined in Something Awful[2] in 2004. In the forums, users could summon a number of default image macros using simple commands like [img – macro], for example, timelines, "Aces!" and "Captain Obvious to the Rescue!" images. The name is derived from the computer scientific definition of a macro: a rule or pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence should be mapped to an output sequence according to a defined procedure. The earliest definition of an image macro was submitted by SomethingAwful forum user Eclipse[3] on February 12th, 2004."
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - drb91 8y ago
      But image "macro" memes are far older than the internet--consider the classic cat meme, 'Hang in there!': https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TQ1YdQYNL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TQ1YdQYNL... Hell, you could consider print advertising to be a form of image "macros". We need a better name that is descriptive or at least doesn't sound so abstract and far removed from the virality/humor aspect.
21 8y ago
About the same time with "drone" and "crypto". Language is defined by usage, not by what you think is correct.
- grimbly 8y ago
  Statements are not true simply because you state them.
jklinger410 8y ago
Memes are a meme twilightzonetheme.wma
dokem 8y ago
A meme is anything that traverses socially.
- Jedd 8y ago
  > A meme is anything that traverses socially. Even if that's a sufficient and satisfactory explanation, it doesn't address either the claim of TFA, or parent's question. What app do you use to traverse socially ... ? Text overlaid on an image is not inherently a meme - even if the bot that made it shares it on instagram.
brian-armstrong 8y ago
"As Memes Evolve, Journalists Are Struggling To Keep Up"
Kagerjay 8y ago
Probably around the time more complex "infographic" memes started surfacing, to my knowledge these are fairly new (1-2years). Memes have always been short and simple
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Varcht 8y ago
The self described "first online meme generator", memegenerator.net. Showed up circa 2009, so, before that?
fouc 8y ago
memes are memes of memes.
Nadya 8y ago
I'm an ancient meme historian. I specialize in memes before memes became dank. The definition transitioned from "viral internet jokes" to "image intended to be funny". Some memes are just edited screenshots of Twitter posts or other viral images. "Text intended to be funny" is a subset of memes referred to as "greentext"; due to 4chan quotes being used for storytelling and the text being green. The transition period went from Image macro --> Demotivational Posters --> Trollface/Rage Comics --> 4 panel comics --> Memes. This took place over the time period of 2004-2009 and really took off with sharing images over Twitter as the ability to get a viral image became easier.
- 2bitencryption 8y ago
  > I specialize in memes before memes became dank. Now's my chance to ask a professional: when did memes become "dank"? Mid-2012?
  - Nadya 8y ago
    Sometime in 2014 a Reddit post became popular using the gnome child from Runescape [0]. This was likely the first dank meme and a catalyst for what was to come. Using Google Trends [1] you can even identify that late 2013 a few people were already looking for dank memes, but it wasn't until late 2014 when memes started becoming dank. The dankest they ever were was in October and November of 2016 - they've become less dank over time but the economists over in /r/memeeconomy keep their eyes out on /r/dankmemes for the latest and dankest memes to add to their portfolios. It's a thriving industry with lots of karma to be had - it takes experts to identify a dank meme before it is ripe. [0] https://vgy.me/lCZkJ0.png https://vgy.me/lCZkJ0.png [1] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%22dank%20meme%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%...
    - dplgk 8y ago
      Memes were dank way before that. Even on reddit. Scumbag Steve, etc.

tomc1985 8y ago

And this is why memes sucks now... people take it way too seriously. Four different apps? Most of this stuff could be done with only Paint.net.

sotojuan 8y ago
It seems people want to be doing this on their phone - that's the problem.
- onion2k 8y ago
  The sort of people who make memes often only have a phone.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    Damn, that was my thought exactly!

6cd6beb 8y ago

Photoshop. or Gimp. I mean it's superimposing text, possibly at different fonts, sizes, angles; then combining various images, again possibly at different rotations, and then applying filters. Tools exist for this. A "meme making app" made sense when it was just top and bottom text over an image, but these people are basically saying they want a heavyweight image editor.

soared 8y ago
You think elementary schoolers and other non-techies are going to either pay $15/mo for photoshop or delve into the ux dungeon that is Gimp? Not a chance.
- jessaustin 8y ago
  The elementary school filters probably block all the gimps.

whalesalad 8y ago

This is great. There is a huge opportunity to create an app to create modern-day memes. They all have certain aesthetics. Many of them follow templates that are correlated with the content. Some earn their cred from simply having a certain over-compressed JPEG vibe. I'll admit I am addicted to surfin memes. My wife and I will sit for hours in silence, passing them back and forth and just laughing constantly. So, to all the folks here saying GIMP or MSPaint and call it a day ... you are missing the boat. The modern-day instagram/twitter memes are an entirely new vector of communication. The bar is getting lower, it will get lower, and there is a way to capitalize on this. One day soon an app will exist that will allow you to make memes the same way instagram allows you to tap one finger and make a photo look like it was taken on a polaroid camera. If you do it right to where you can produce content like heckoffsupreme, sonny5ideup, tanksinatra, middleclassfancy, gayvapeshark, etc... with a few taps and some original verbage you'd make a killing. Also super glad to see heckoffsupreme get an honorable mention. They are some of the best, no doubt.

calhoun137 8y ago
I do not disagree with you that there is a huge vacuum in the market for a good meme making app and that this will be extremely profitable for whoever gets it right and is able to execute and build a large user base. That being said, as someone who has been making memes for 6+ years I can tell you hands down no mobile app will ever compare to the power of photoshop, or GIMP for that matter. Even if it was possible for a mobile app to do everything photoshop can do, the small screen size and touch screen interface is a huge issue that can't be solved without plugging a mouse + keyboard into a tablet, at which point, just use a computer. There is an interesting phenomenon that the younger generation is so enamored with mobile apps and devices that many of them don't realize how certain use cases/work flows simply are always going to be way better on a desktop or a laptop. I would characterize your comment as saying its possible to profit off of the ignorance of a certain subset of today's 15-25 year old's when it comes to this fact. I know there are so many brilliant people in this generation who are going to be sick nerds one day. But lots of others only interact with computers via their phones and don't even realize how silly they are being by refusing to make memes on a laptop.

bonniemuffin 8y ago

I find /r/surrealmemes fascinating, but never really thought about the lack of tools for hacking stuff like that together.

mirimir 8y ago

Someone ought to do app for blocking memes. Something like AdBlock Plus or uMatrix.

calhoun137 8y ago

"some memers have found the current suite of mobile applications so lacking that they choose to create their memes on desktop computers instead. “On your phone, you’re never going to be able to do as much as you could as on a computer,” says Noam, who memes under the account @listenintospitandgettingparamoredon. Ronnie, who memes under the handle @mspainttrash, is part of a group of meme makers that works exclusively in MS Paint." Finally I thought, a voice of reason! Someone is going to mention GIMP or photoshop. But then they go straight for MS Paint and then totally ignore the idea of using a desktop to make memes and go right back to the "problem" that you need 4 apps to make a shitpost. LOL! Someone tell these kids about GIMP please

mrieck 8y ago

I made a cartoon maker that allows the mashup of memes: https://www.superanimo.com/ https://www.superanimo.com/ I'm making a bet that the future of memes are short videos that tell more of a story than a simple image macro. Hopefully I can turn SuperAnimo into an app someday but right now it's just a buggy website no one uses. It's still my favorite project though - so I'll keep plugging away at features and maybe one day I'll get some users.

crtasm 8y ago

Memetastic on f-droid works well!