Loud. Raucous. Usually drunk. Constantly on the Internet. The fact is, college-age students are among the largest users of the Internet^1^ and many internet memes are inspired by this trend. One of many examples of this would be the infamous term used to describe nearly everyone on the interwebz: Bro.
Bro
What are you waiting for, bro? Punch the screen, bro.
For starters, many image/image macro memes (u mad, bro?; don't tase me, bro; cool story, bro; bros icing bros, come at me bro; etc. etc.) involve the term "Bro" or relate to college fraternity brothers or the fraternity life. Most college students are recreationally online in one way or another^2, 3^, and with the Internet habituated mostly by college kids, there's going to be some sort of influence by this audience.
Fraternity Shenanigans
Drink up…
When one is drunk, typically at a large-scale party, one's friends (or bros) are going to record whatever it is one has done. Especially if it makes them lawl.
dig the shades.
Drunkenness creates a sense of freedom from the world around you, up to the moment you wake up the next night in your underwear lying in the middle of the campus next to your cousin, or head-over-heels in a dumpster with a black eye and a broken arm.
And then find a picture of it on the Internet with the outlined letters: "DO NOT WANT."
All fraternity brothers have to follow the Rules, and such rules often result in the discomfort of others, often resulting in the lolz of us. Both the party scene and the Bro Commandments directly contribute to the success and longevity of image macros and images.
The Bro and Gaming
LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back on the topic of college students on the interwebz, seventy percent of these people have played some sort of online video game, and 65% are regulars. 3 With such a large amount of college students on MMO, and with such a large amount of students getting iced, phrases and actions quickly become viral. The world could be connected with one game. However, a server could become completely deserted (and the Internet abuzz) because one bro shot RPGs randomly, shouting "I GOT A NUKE! I GOT A NUKE!"
Conclusion (TL; DR? LOOK HERE.)
Thanks for reading, short attention span.
To recap, the college life has intertwined with the interwebz, creating two perpendicular universes that, at their center, form an ultra-memetic mass that shall-
Whoops. There goes UCLA.