The unoriginality of memes

I used to like Facebook.

Initially, as a late adopter, I was suspicious. Facebook is a so-called "microblog". Don't worry about the full thought, just get that sound-bite out there as a status update.

But I found that I don't really mind that. Photos and check-in locations are cool (sometimes).

One thing that I do mind is that Facebook, to me, is losing the atmosphere of being a personal playground where you can dig up new stuff.

I had a Facebook zombie (for example). Childish, I know, but at the push of a button, my zombie would attack a friend's zombie, and one of us would win points. Then my friend could retaliate. Simple but strangely satisfying, and it felt fresh.

It was like an additional channel of communication. It was very much on the level of 'poke' or 'wave across the bar' rather than on the level of discussing international finance, or even the Arsenal back four, but it was still personal. It was still my zombie trying to beat up my friend's zombie.

If I can use that as the basis for a prolonged and somewhat strained metaphor, what I find now is something rather different. My zombie has almost gone.

I see quotes from and about famous people discussing their zombies (so to speak). I see (and spread, mea culpa) links to news about those same celebrities' zombies (so to speak). I see some people who even use pictures of famous zombies as their own avatar (I like this metaphor).

Moreover, I see 40-year old jokes about zombies being copy-pasted into identikit image files, while at the same time exuding this strange air that the whole process somehow represents creativity.

It is not creativity. They are 40-year old jokes. Copy-pasted. Into a template.

In a word, they are memes. Look it up in a dictionary!

I want my zombie back.