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Be like Bill

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A stick figure next to the text "This is Bill. Bill wakes up to see that it is snowing. Bill doesn't post to Facebook about this because he knows that his friends also have windows. Bill is smart. Be like Bill."
An example of the meme.

"Be like Bill" or its other name: "Be like Billy" is a social media meme that was introduced around late 2015, with its popularity greatly increasing in early 2016.[1]

Meme

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The "be like Bill" meme typically features an image of a simple stick figure, who may be wearing a knitted hat, together with text such as "This is Bill. Bill is on Facebook. Bill is a vegan. Bill doesn't tell everybody about it. Bill is smart. Be like Bill."[1][2][3] The meme has been described as "a way for people to passive-aggressively call out social media behaviours that annoy them."[4] The meme also attracted a large number of detractors who criticized the meme's tone and lack of self-awareness.[5]

Boston officials used the meme to discourage the use of space savers in parking spots.[6][7]

The meme has spawned foreign language variants with other characters, including Bilal (Arabic), Rashid (Malaysian), Jose (Spanish),[2] Petya (Russian), Qodos (Dari/Pashto),[8] and Juan (Tagalog).[9] There also exists a female variant with a character named Emily.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Subedar, Anisa (18 January 2016). "Why should you be more like Bill?". BBC Trending. BBC News. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Feldman, Brian (19 January 2016). "'Be Like Bill' Is the Worst Thing on Facebook". New York. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  3. ^ Parsons, Jeff (19 January 2016). "What is #BeLikeBill? Everything you need to know about the meme that is taking over the internet". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  4. ^ Grossman, Samantha (25 January 2016). "Here's What to Know About the 'Be Like Bill' Meme Your Friends Keep Sharing on Facebook". Time. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  5. ^ Dewey, Caitlin (22 January 2016). "The rise of Be Like Bill — a detestable meme instructing an audience of millions". National Post. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  6. ^ Annear, Steve (25 January 2016). "'Be Like Bill' and remove your space savers, city says". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  7. ^ McGinnes, Meagan (25 January 2016). "Boston made its own 'Be Like Bill' meme about space savers". Boston.com. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  8. ^ Rahim, Fazul (24 January 2016). "#BeLikeQodos: Afghanistan Flips #BeLikeBill Meme on Its Head". NBC News. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  9. ^ Rhys, Buccat (18 January 2016). "Meet the gaming buddies behind 'Tularan si Juan'". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
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