"I made a meme Facebook page in my college first year. It was about stuff that was happening in the college that was basically public knowledge. The other guy who made it and I remained anonymous, but people close to us knew who were behind the page. It started off with just making memes and quirky videos and such. However, it turned into something much more when we entered our second year. A fresh batch of students found out about our channel. All of them unaware of who runs it. But the page became a sensation within the college. It got 2,000+ followers on Facebook within 2 years. All of this happening at a college that has at its strength 4,000 students.
Cometh the third year, and dorm rules were changed. We were no longer allowed to pick our roommates. Everyone seemed to be upset at that, but no one could say anything. Until we did. We single handedly launched a campaign that involved posting flyers on dorm boards with QR codes to our petition.
The power of social media
When that didn’t work we tried tagging the hostel authority directly and asking them to do something about it, as it was an unpleasant decision for everyone involved from students to hostel staff. But the administration didn’t listen. In the end, we resorted to memes and protests.
Not long before, everyone on Facebook and Twitter were united. The college’s Twitter handle was flooded with direct messages. People even sent memes directly to the official handle. We were soon contacted by the student body who handled some of it. They said they had to deal with a lot of issues from both sides, and are shutting down the hostel registration on college portal until officials respond. And when the fees payments and registrations were delayed, they had to respond. They put out an official notice that mostly reverted all the newly stated rules, and most importantly, we were allowed to choose our roommates, but not the dorm or floor. That was still a pretty good deal. And it made everyone happy. The positive feedback we got was overwhelming for a couple of guys flunking classes and making memes for fun. I haven’t done much in the college in terms of academic achievements, but this is something I’ll never forget.”