Doug Ray lives outside Tampa Bay, FL. He published a photo on Instagram in 2012, and you’ve probably seen it.
Doug didn’t know it yet, but his photo was about to go viral.
The gram shows a hand-written list on a whiteboard, with a 2012-standard Instagram filter and black boarder. It had a short caption and a few hashtags— #socialmedia #socialmediaexplained… and #socialdonut.
Buzzfeed, Business Insider, and FunnyOrDie republished it within a week. Before long, AdWeek wrote about it.
Even The Atlantic referenced it in a piece about Google Plus.
Social Media Explained (Original 2012 Version)
Here’s what Doug Ray’s original “Social Media Explains with Donuts” meme said in 2012:
Social Media Donuts meme text
If you find Instagram’s insistence on capping their media at 612×612 as infuriating as I do, you might enjoy this more readable text copy:
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Twitter
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I’m eating a #donut
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Facebook
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I like donuts
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Foursquare
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This is where I eat donuts
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Instagram
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Here’s a vintage photo of my donut
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YouTube
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Here I am eating a donut
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LinkedIn
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My skills include donut eating
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Pinterest
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Here’s a donut recipe
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LastFM
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Now listening to “Donuts”
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Google+
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I’m a Google employee who eats donuts.
@douglaswray The Original Social Media Explained with Donuts by Doug Ray / Three Ships Media. #socialmediaexplained #socialdonut #facebook #pinterest #linkedin #youtube #foursquare #twitter #instagram #socialmedia #googleplus #lastfm #memes #funnypics
2019 Social Media Donuts
It’s time to update Doug’s commentary for 2019. Social media has changed A LOT in seven years.
For starters, he lists few vestigial appendages— LastFM, Google+, and FourSquare… bygone remnants of the social landscape of yore.
So I updated it.
Here’s my take on the 2019 version of the social media donuts meme. See if you can spot a few familiar tropes—
And here it is in plain text format, mostly for the googles.
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Twitter
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Donuts must immediately stop taking in pancakes from IHOP. This will be the destruction of donuts as we know it! Sad! #donutgate #dunkherup #dunkthewall
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Facebook
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BREAKING-Hillary admits she LIED about donut wall funding shutdownghazigate. WHEN will Dems wake up?-Breitbart
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Foursquare
- [crickets chirping]
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Instagram
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@world_record_donut Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked donut on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Donut Jenner (18 million)! We got this 🙌 #LikeTheDonut #DonutSoldiers #DonutGang
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YouTube
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Heyyyyy guyyyyyys, donut heerreee. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to smash that subscribe button to get all my latest donut vidssss thaaaanksssss!
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LinkedIn
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There’s a paradigm shift coming to the donut industry. Comment below if you want to help pastry confections level up in 2019.
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Pinterest
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1,307 FIRE Donut Recipes with 297 DECADENT Glaze Varieties We Filmed in our $107,999 Kitchen Set for You to Try in Your Overpriced 317 Square Foot Apartment
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LastFM
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…what are you even doing here? Spotify is that way 👉
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G+
- [RIP]
Credit where credit is due, obviously
Definitely check out (and I’m proudly linking to) the original Social Media Explained with Donuts by Doug Ray/Three Ships Media.
Don’t steal. Even (especially?) on social media, where screenshotting and regramming is the norm.
Doug even has a Pinterest board dedicated to jerkwads who blatantly stole and plagiarized his idea. Strong work, Doug. Keep fighting the good fight!