About

Put Your Finger Here is a series of interactive videos or animated GIFs. The video tells the viewer to put their finger on their computer screen creating the illusion that the viewer caused the effect in the video.

Origin

The first instance of this meme online was in a series of YouTube commercials made for Skittles in 2011, initially debuting April 5th. The commercials were meant to be watched on the computer, and emphasized the user's closeness to the screen for comedic effect.

Spread

On May 10th, 2012, Reddit user ozzymustaine submitted the thread "Put your finger" to the subreddit r/gifs^[3]. The post earned 1,074 points (87% upvoted) and featured this gif:

On April 15th, 2013, comedy site College Humor^[2] posted a roundup of various GIFs that circulated using the concept. On Jun 25th, 2013, the subreddit /r/putyourfingerhere^[1] was created, and as of April 2015, it has 96 members.

On October 27th, 2013, the youtuber EqualToAwesome posted a video called "Put your finger here" (below left), collecting the different instances of the meme. As of April 2015, the video has garnered 505,884 views and a sequel (below right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Le Reddit – r/putyourfingerhere

^[2] College Humor via Wayback Machine – Put Your Finger Here: An Interactive Gallery

^[3] Reddit – Put your finger