This article is from the archive of our partner .

Here's a 21st Century story about the speed with which an innocent joke becomes a roaring Twitter meme and just as quickly dies in the GIF wastelands of Tumblr.

Observe:

8:50 a.m.: Deborah Needleman, editor of T Magazine, tweets about an upcoming appearance by (occasionally rage-inducing) author Katie Rophie:

8:55 a.m.: Confusion sets in.

8:59 a.m.: Followed by mockery...

9:06 a.m.: ... then Anger...

10:34 a.m.: The hash tag begins.

11:01 a.m.: A guy pitches in with a BJ joke.

11:07 a.m.: Things get confessional

11:11 a.m: Another guy tries to help. Doesn't get it.

11:13 a.m.: As the tag spreads, the confusion returns.

11:19 a.m.: Things start getting absurd:

11:44 a.m.: 2 hours and 54 minutes after Needleman's tweet, the Reaction GIF Tumblr is born.

12:17 p.m.: And 23 minutes later, the Tumblr birth announcement goes out on Twitter.

The end.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/speedy-life-cycle-sorryfeminists/322775/
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