The popular “#first7jobs” trending hashtag/meme popped up around Twitter a couple weeks ago, with an expanded Facebook counterpart following suit. I didn’t post mine because it seemed a little too bizarre to be believed (it included “pool boy” and “hedge fund” in close proximity, which sounded fishy); I also couldn’t remember exactly in what order the jobs I held in my teens and early 20s occured.
Today a new meme has begun circulating in which people are posting their seven favorite movies. This hashtag has taken on a few different variations so far, including #fav7films, #fave7films, #7favfilms, among others. People generally seem to be being somewhat selective about the seven movies they’ve posted in order to impress others, which is understandable. (If I posted mine, I’d probably include Bob le Flambeur and O Lucky Man! while jettisoning more obvious ones like Jaws and Rear Window in order to seem like a smarty pants with obscure tastes. But these types of lists are always frustrating to me: Right at this very second I think my favorite movie might be Hell or High Water, but if you’d asked me in 1994, I’d probably have put Speed at the top of the list.)
I can’t say for certain if these two hashtag/memes are related, but they do resemble each other. Seven seems to be the maximum number of things to fit into a single tweet, and it’s about the right length for a list to be of interest without being boring. (Three is too restrictive for the person posting, while 10 is too many for their followers to give a shit about.) Therefore, I expect we’ll see many more number-seven-related social-media memes materialize in the next few days as people take advantage of the handy sweet spot afforded by the number 7.
Some obvious ones pop immediately to mind, such as #fav7albums, #7placesihavelived, and #7dudesyouneverknewwereingunsnroses. I think we, the internet, can do better. So, here are some suggestions—seven of them, in fact!
#7mostrecentsaladsyoudidntfinish
#7bestyearsthatendinthenumber7
#7pantsizesyouhavebeeninyourlife
#7strongestsmellingpublictransitexperiences
#7partsofyourbodythatlooklikeotherpartsofyourbodyifyouzoominonthem
