People are misusing the “POV” meme, and here is how to use it correctly.
For those reading this who are unaware of whatever the “POV” meme is, the POV meme is a meme format that states a Point of View situation and then shows a photo or video to make the meme amusing. It is one of many thousands of meme formats and is widely used.
The history of the POV meme
The POV meme wasn’t the first meme to use Point of View as a joke. It was first used in the “What You See VS What She Sees” memes of 2016. These memes tended to be used in a sexual manner and were thus only popular among the dirty minded users of the internet. But it can be seen as a precursor to the meme.
The POV meme has an unknown origin but the first recorded use of it was in February 2019 by a TikTok user known as “benoftheweek”. From then on, it was used with the #POV and spread to other social media platforms. And even after over 3 years since it’s invention, it is still used quite commonly today in memes of varying topics.
For a deeper dive on the history, visit https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pov-memes.
The misuse of the POV meme.
As you can see from this meme, it is making the joke that taking a screenshot of something positive and posting it on r/wholesomememes will get you a lot of upvotes on the social media site “Reddit”.
But “POV” means “Point of View”. If we were to analyse the meme, it uses the meme incorrectly. Ruining the format means ruining the joke. The joke that was made unintentionally, meant that the Reddit poster was watching other people get upvotes instead of getting upvotes for themselves.
The correct way to use the POV format would be to show the point of view of the person being referenced in the meme. Therefore you could have shown a pile of red upvote arrows, or people lining up to give you their upvotes in place of strips of money.
This misuse is widely committed and is not on purpose, it is a simple, misunderstanding of the meme that could be fixed simply by studying the meme through common examples.
How to use the POV meme correctly.
This meme is showing us the correct way to use the POV meme. It tells us the story that this image is the viewpoint of you, the leaf with good crunch potential. It is a good meme because it uses the format correctly, and combines a goofy image with a relatable situation. The goofy image makes it funny, the relatable situation makes it more enjoyable, and the correct use of the format give sense and understanding to the meme. This is the correct way to use the POV meme.
It does not show us a leaf with good crunching potential because it tells us that you are the leaf. The person who made this meme recognised the format and knew exactly how to use it. Truly a good quality in a meme maker.
I hope you, the reader, will share this article with other meme makers. Whether you share the article itself or share the general message is up to you. What matters is that you know the correct and proper way to make a POV meme and that you are able to share this knowledge with other meme makers.
