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University memes have become a meme. Created on the third of February by two Kent University undergraduates, Sammy Paul and Thom Maarseveen, the Kent Uni Memes page has gained almost 5,500 likes so far. What began with Sammy and Thom creating their own memes has rapidly become dozens of Kent students creating and submitting their own memes, with varying results. The only problem seems to be the fact that nobody is entirely sure what a meme is.

According to the creators, many people seem to think that a meme is “a pretty picture with words on it.” This is not the case. Memes are actually a very old concept, used to describe the spreading of an idea or a symbol through cultures and can be shared by images, speech, gestures or similar methods. Current internet memes such as ‘Conspiracy Keanu Reeves’ and ‘Scumbag Steve’ are specific pictures or screen captures, which people add text to in order to apply them to different situations; in this case, university. They pre-existed and will outdate Kent Uni Memes.

So why make a Facebook group about them? “Seeing as I pretty much think in memes, I thought it only right to share my pearls of wisdom with the world” says co-creator Sammy Paul, only slightly ironically. Given that Thom is studying Computer System and Engineering and Sammy is a Youtuber, both spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet. Basically, they know this stuff. How do they feel about the fact that university memes have gone global? “It’s crazy but that’s memes for you. They circulate super fast. Pretty much ALL THE UNIS have one now.” ‘ALL THE UNIS’, they tell me, is actually a meme itself. (Don’t worry if you don’t understand why. You’re probably with the majority.)

Given that they obviously know a lot about memes, how do they feel about the quality of memes being put on the page? Do people really understand it’s all about? “We’re kind of caught between two groups of people,” they say. “The die hard trolls who think anything that isn’t 4chan (seriously, don’t worry. I have no idea what 4chan is. I’m also advised not to find out), is scum, and the people who pronounce it as ‘me – me’. So we try to hit a middle ground, thus pleasing nobody.”

Finally, I ask them how they would best describe memes. The answer they give me is simply: *troll face*. I guess it’s a geek thing. (At this point I should probably point out that I live with, and am very good friends with Sammy and Thom. They don’t mind a bit of casual abuse.)