A meme is born: How people are taking mixed media viral on Twitter

Full disclosure: when Twitter releases a new feature into the wild, we don’t know exactly how people are going to use it.

It’s true. 

Sure, we have an idea. Usually it’s a pretty good idea. But we can only ever give people what amounts to a new canvas to work with. They (and you) are the ones who ultimately get to decide what goes on it. That’s the beauty of a public conversation that’s open to everyone — it leaves plenty of room for surprises and creativity. 

And there may be no better example of this than mixed media, a new feature that lets people mix and match up to 4 images, videos, and GIFs in a single Tweet. 

A meme is (re)born

Almost immediately after we announced the global release of mixed media in early October, people on Twitter got to work creating things like side-by-side reactions using one photo and one video or four-panel memes composed of three images and either a video or a GIF. 

To see this in action, look no further than (of all things) the revived “Pope Francis Holding Things” meme that dates all the way back to 2013.

Who saw that coming?

People and brands get creative with mixed media

Of course, it’s not just one kind of mixed media meme (mixed meme-ia?) that’s getting all the attention. 

People, creators, and brands on Twitter are experimenting with the feature in a variety of clever ways to rack up millions of views and engagements. For brands that rely on Twitter to express a more witty and playful side, mixed media provides another way to jump on existing trends and even create new ones. And honestly, we’re absolutely loving it. 

Keep the creative ideas coming, and we’ll keep developing more ways to help you share them with the world.