Twitter is no stranger to a hashtag or a meme – many know
the hashtag was invented on Twitter, and anyone who has had Twitter
“conversations” with the Trump fanbase soon realises that memes (plus profanity
and #MAGA of course) are literally all the language they have. Twitter, certainly Pre
Trump/Brexit, was to quite a large extent cat videos, short jokes (don’t get me started
on 280 characters – RUINED it they have, I tell you) and memes.
But in the last few weeks, Twitter has gained a new meme - the
hashtag #FBPE. When this one popped up in my feed, it was a curious thing.
Firstly, hashtags are usually things like #MakeAMiserableFilm or #WallpaperWednedsay
so their meaning is obvious(ish). They’re also often fairly short lived, being
of their time, serve their purpose and quietly disappear from Twitter trends. But
this one didn’t immediately make sense to me, it lasted more than a day or two –
and, unusually, it was being added to Twitter users’ display names as well as
tweets.
So when someone with the #FBPE appendage got into a Twitter
conversation with me I had to ask about it. And it turns out it stands for
Follow Back Pro Europe.
The idea (pretty obviously once you decipher it) is that
attaching this hashtag to your name showed you take a broadly pro-European inclusive
stance, are anti-Brexit, and that it’d be quite nice if others of a similar outlook
would follow you back on Twitter,
please-thank-you-very-much.
The politeness was the thing that struck me - not adding “STOP
BREXIT REMOVE THE GOVERNMENT THIS IS FUCKING MADNESS!!!” to your display name, demanding that others RT your thoughts
or looking down on/refusing to interact with anyone who doesn’t love your new
Favourite Twitter Thing. It’s merely a short addition that says “I am generally
a fan of Europe whether we end up leaving through Brexit or not”. Clearly some
adopters of this meme (me, for instance) do occasionally scream STOP BREXIT REMOVE
THE GOVERNMENT THIS IS FUCKING MADNESS!!! on Twitter, and IRL. But this is a
quiet little badge that some of us wear too.
As #FBPE is Brexit-related, you’d expect it to be adopted
almost exclusively by UK users and a few ex-pats. But it’s been gaining traction,
and doing the job – people have been gradually following back, our little band gaining
like-minded individuals, turning into quite a big band. And this week we got a surprise – #FBPE has not
only reached Europe, but the higher echelons of the EU organisation itself.
No less a figure than the European Parliament representative
in Brexit talks, Guy Verhofstadt is
aware of this growing movement, as this recent tweet shows: -
What a Guy
This is GOLD for a meme. In the Twittersphere followers are currency,
and at the time of writing Guy Verhofstadt has 234,325 followers. So that
tweet, with the proudly attached and well explained meaning of #FBPE has just been
given a very broad new audience.
It’s great that a non-aggressive, pro-European message is
being spread like this, it shows a swell of public support for the idea of
opposing Brexit without being too in-your-face, and now some of our friends in
Europe and farther afield are aware of it too. Small beginnings, but we know
the current crop of MPs pay close attention to swells of public opinion on
social media.
If/when the anti-Brexit sentiment builds in Parliament,
wouldn’t it be fun to see the odd UK MP sticking #FBPE on their Twitter handle?
Long Live the #FBPE meme (*whispers* “and Long Live the Resistance”).
Thanks for a good post. A thought: The reason why it is often counterproductive for a politician to stick #FBPE on their twitter-handle is the "followback" part. Part of the joy of being #FBPE is seeing your number of followers suddenly swell. But "big" account usually have many many followers, but follow few accounts.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that the value of bringing #FBPE to prominence through having it posted on a large Twitter-account far outweighs the frustration over the lacking followback. But politicians are incessantly under attack for hipocricy, and could open a bad flank by flying the tag.