Instagram Text Posts: The Overlooked Meme Of 2020

Not every great meme is going to make the big end-of-year lists, not least in 2020. Perhaps it’s not topical enough or it doesn’t have that one iconic image or phrase that sticks in people's minds, yet it multiplies to the extent that it makes a subtler, more profound impact. One such genre has gained increasing recognition on Instagram, and its power comes from a deceptive simplicity.

It relies on the written word, although it’s helped along by some liberal emoji usage. Some act as props, but most remain basic, with the cry-laugh emoji being a favorite. Many of its examples are created with Facebook, but their uptake on its sister platform is where they have gained their clout. It offers a vehicle for text-based memes not otherwise found on Instagram, being more exciting than a caption, but not as high-effort as sourcing the perfect image to transcribe that relatable feeling. They are the "Instagram text posts" — to borrow a phrase from Tumblr, another highly visual social media with distinctive textual humor.

The Instagram text post recalls a bit in a stand-up comedy routine, its emotional focus usually one of whimsical outrage. There’s always a story to tell with this format, and all those cry-laugh emojis can be an honorable stand-in for a live audience.

Their subject matter is proud to be petty, often passing a judgment of some kind in a humorous way. The most common topics it covers relate to issues surrounding money and relationships, i.e. the foundational issues used in many strands of mainstream memes. Their mindset is adjacent to "local Twitter," a phrase defined by The Verge in 2018 for this brand of appealing, performative basicness.

This pedestrian yet comical approach relates them to a couple of different phenomena. The less self-aware TikTok version can be seen in the wisdom of Jordan Scott, the I Ain’t Never Seen Two Pretty Best Friends guy. Arguably, they also received a boost from the 2019 copypasta Eat Hot Chip and Lie, likewise sourced from Facebook in its original form. While too nonsensical and unpolished to be used in this format, its basic makeup of humorous everyday logic helped pave the way for a greater appreciation of its more rational cousins.

This only emphasizes the implication that this format is indebted to Black meme culture. Acting as a goofier, cross-platform sidekick to Black Twitter, they have a wholesome bent. Even if made specifically for a purpose (i.e. straight-to-Instagram), it’s not hard to imagine them coming straight from the Facebook of someone’s old high school friend.

They are a community art form, and many of those who first popularized them in this way did so as a means of preserving the best of Black meme culture. Most prominently, this concept has been pioneered by Instagram user @patiasfantasyworld, who consistently posts examples of the format and has experienced huge follower growth over the past year.

Now, the audience for this genre is much wider, and it brings with it inevitable questions of what constitutes appreciation or appropriation. There’s a link to be made with the rise of Black Wojaks — a format that has had some uncomfortable racist associations in the past — and the commentary they have provided on white people’s often problematic relationship to Black culture.

However, the Instagram text post is still at its most influential in the circles where it first gained currency. Not only this, but their continued popularity has also been helped by the general context of 2020.

This type of meme feels like a one-sided conversation, and while the subjects they cover are frequently dark, adult and even bitter, they are presented with the warmth of human interaction that memes often translate in a more abstract way. For those missing that sense of connection, they provide a small lifeline of normality.

Easy to make and even easier to relate to, it’s unlikely that the Instagram text post will fall out of favor in the near future. Despite their text-heavy composition, they manage to compete in the image-filled grids of many Instagram meme accounts. It’s the voice it has that resonates with us the most, and the fact that this format has an implicit understanding of this ensures that it is made to last.

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