Socially Awkward Penguin
Part of a series on Advice Animals. [View Related Entries]
About
Socially Awkward Penguin is an advice animal image macro series featuring a penguin lacking both social skills and self esteem. The text typically narrates some of life’s most uncomfortable situations.
Origin
The original image is of an Adeli penguin, which was taken by nature photographer George F. Mobley[1] and posted as part of a factsheet on National Geographic’s Wild Animals site.[2] The Socially Awkward Penguin image macros began appearing on 4chan around May 2010, following the craze of Advice Animal prototypes like Advice Dog and Courage Wolf.
Spread
On August 30th, 2009, single topic blog Fuck Yeah Socially Awkward Penguin[6] was made, making 19 posts in its first day.
Interest picked up steam in late Summer/Early Fall 2010, when an Android app was uploaded to the market[7]. Meanwhile, Buzzfeed[8] featured a best-of series and Smosh[9] posted a collection of the Penguin’s most awkward moments. The first Quickmeme[10] instance was generated in late December 2010.[11] Memestache[12] hosts a generator as well, first registered in June 2011.
On Social Networks
Over 26,000 people have liked the Facebook page[13] associated with the macro. It also has evolved into a popular hashtag on Tumblr[14] and Twitter to denote awkward life situations.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
Search queries for Socially Awkward Penguin began in May 2009, and continues to rise steadily.
Jiffy Cabs Advert
A newspaper advertisement for the Taxi agency Jiffy Cabs featured Socially Awkward Penguin as was shown on Reddit[15]. According to the OP, the advert came from the canadian student paper The Muse, although according to another Redditor it was also used in the Recess Weekly.
External References
[1] National Geographic – George F. Mobley biography
[2] National Geographic – Adelie Penguin
[3] Meme Generator – Socially Awesome Penguin
[4] Meme Generator – Socially Average Penguin
[5] Meme Generator – Socially Terrifying Penguin
[6] Tumblr – F Yeah Socially Awkward Penguin
[7] Android Market – Socially Awkward Penguin
[8] Buzzfeed – The Best Of Socially Awkward Penguin
[9] Smosh – 25 Most Socially Awkward Penguin Moments
[10] Quickmeme – Socially Awkward Penguin
[11] Quickmeme – Looking Good / You Have No Plans Tonight
[12] Memestache – Socially Awkward Penguins
[13] Facebook – Socially Awkward Penguin
[14] Tumblr – Posts Tagged “Socially Awkward Penguin”
[15] Reddit – Socially Awkward Penguin On My Bus
Related Entries 74 total
Recent Videos 12 total
Recent Images 513 total
Top Comments
Socially Awkward Troll
Apr 10, 2011 at 09:31AM EDT+24
It’s sad that the majority of all the images is my life. D: (cries in corner, then goes fap to hentai) :D
Sav
Mar 30, 2011 at 04:41PM EDT+22
Comments 62 total
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