Nowadays, billions of people—4.6, according to last year’s data—use social media, which is why it’s no surprise quite a few of them are familiar with the same internet phenomena. Whether it’s a meme gone viral, a shocking video spreading like wildfire, or fake news that’s impossible to stop once released into the online universe, people from different ends become familiar with all the same things.
However, some topics seem to be more popular than others; at least when it comes to online humor. A study published in the International Journal of Communication suggested that when it comes to jokes online, sex and marriage were two of the main topics; as for funny photos shared on the internet, the most popular ones related to animals, sex, and transportation.
Whether it’s viewing funny animal pics or giggling at jokes about marriage, social media users around the world spend roughly 150 minutes scrolling through it every day. It’s very likely that 2.5 hours a day is plenty of time to spot a comment or two from ‘Xavier’.
During a recent interview with Bored Panda, the founder of the witty persona revealed that the comments come naturally to them when they’re in a happy mood. “Generally the best comments come to my mind when I’m not trying,” they said, adding that they don’t create the remarks they share in advance. “It's just the right flow and right timings catching nice trends.”
The founder told Bored Panda during a recent interview that ‘Xavier’ has become widely popular because the innocence on his face and wittiness in his comments has made him a stress killer. “‘Xavier’ has become an idea, and I want this idea to live forever,” they added.
When asked what has changed the most since the very beginning, the creator of the account said that they feel more confident. “I can make things happen—it can be anything I put my interest into. ‘Xavier’ has given me a huge self boost and I absolutely love making people happy and love receiving messages, which inspire me to do more and deliver quality content.”
According to Know Your Meme, ‘Xavier’ is likely a copycat of Pakalu Papito, a mustache-equipped face that was well-known to social media users from 2015 to 2018. After Papito’s character vanished into thin air, quite a few copycat accounts seemingly filled the void it had left.
Know Your Meme suggested that the ‘Xavier’ account itself likely has quite a few spin-offs as well. In a previous interview with Bored Panda, the founder of ‘Xavier’s’ Facebook page revealed that they don’t mind copycats as long as they don’t use the name to post discriminatory or offensive content. “I want my memes to be clean and simple, and I don’t want myself to be associated with someone who objectifies people on the basis of color, gender, and sexual preferences,” they said.
Because of the idea of ‘Xavier’ being a copycat of Pakalu Papito, not everyone is equally fond of the former; however, quite a few people seem to enjoy his witty comments. The founder of ‘Xavier’s’ Facebook page has previously told Bored Panda that they expected to gain 50K followers in a month, but reached 350k instead.
“I think psychology plays an extra important role as it is the psychology which helps you crack the algorithm of any social media platform. Certain images, certain fonts, certain colors, framing, etc. work relatively better than the others,” the founder revealed during our latest interview.
It’s not only meme pages that benefit from humor online, though; it also plays a major role in marketing, advertising, sales and service. A recent study on what it means to be happy from a customer’s perspective revealed that “91% of people prefer brands to be funny and 72% would choose a brand that uses humor over the competition”. Despite that, roughly 95% of business leaders are fearful of using humor in customer interactions.