The Brief: How I Met/How Y'all Met Memes on Twitter highlight when individual Twitter users were introduced to a celebrity, platform, or item compared to the mainstream.

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DEEP DIVE

How I Met/ How Y’all Met memes are  growing in popularity on Twitter in mid-April. Twitter user @jappoffjones’ tweet went viral after posting a side-by-side picture of actor and comedian Phill Lewis in 1995’s The Wayans Bros. and Disney Channel’s 2005 hit Suite Life of Zack & Cody on April 19. The caption, “The caption how y’all met Mr Moseby vs how I met him” to illustrate they “met” Hall earlier than mainstream audiences. The tweet was  liked over 60,000 times and was retweeted over 16,000 times.

Many Twitter users began tweeting about celebrities, social media platforms, and miscellaneous items.

Black Twitter jumped on the trend highlighting many prominent Black celebrities and “how they met them” vs. how mainstream Twitter met them.  Twitter account @After5ivePod made a similar post on April 25 featuring actress Regina Hall in 1999’s The Best Man next to a picture of her in 2000’s popular comedy Scary Movie. The tweet received nearly 40,000 likes and 9,000 retweets.