A new Facebook page, combining Binghamton University students’ inside jokes with Internet culture, has created an overnight sensation: “Binghamton Memes.”

On the page, students use memes and image macros to poke fun at life at BU.

Guy Risko, a graduate student in the English department and a rhetoric instructor, explained the origin of the word “meme.”

“Historically, the term emerges alongside Richard Dawkins’ book, ‘The Selfish Gene,’ where he said that genes were selfish and wanted to propagate themselves,” Risko said. “What emerged from this was the concept of the meme, which is an idea that wants to propagate itself.”

Internet memes spread digitally through forums and social networks, where they can be experienced and shared.

The Binghamton Memes page was created at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, and quickly generated more than 3,000 likes within its first 72 hours.

The site’s creator, Bianca Byfield, a junior double-majoring in economics and sociology, said she noticed a similar page at her former school and decided to carry the trend over to Binghamton.

“I transferred from Boston University and obviously have some Facebook friends from there,” Byfield said. “I saw some memes on my news feed and thought they were hilarious. So I decided that Binghamton should have one too.”

Byfield predicted the page’s popularity, but was surprised by how fast it grew.

“Yes, I expected [Binghamton Memes] would be popular in the long run, but did not expect it would become viral within 24 hours,” Byfield said.

Byfield had her own way of describing what an Internet meme is.

“My definition of a meme is an idea or cultural content that spreads from person to person through the Internet,” Byfield said.

A variety of memes are featured on the page, including “Scumbag Steve,” “First World Problems” and “College Freshman.” These memes consist of a single picture, where people can add different captions that follow the meme’s set of rules.

For example, a First World Problems meme consists of a picture of a woman crying with a caption complaining about something very trivial.

Most of the memes found on Binghamton Memes are not unique to the page. They were adapted from sites like 4chan, an image-board where anyone can post comments or pictures, and Reddit, a social news site where users submit content.

Risko said that Facebook is essential for the spread of college-specific memes.

“It is unsurprising to me that memes about college would appear on Facebook,” Risko said. “When you go to Reddit or you go to 4chan as a Binghamton University student, that identity is secondary to some other aspect of culture. I think Facebook is necessary because that’s the place where college communities are emerging.”

Byfield and other students created the images for the BU page, but the memes originated from other sites. Variations came from people unfamiliar with the loose ‘rules’ of the memes. While some consider these variations to be wrong, Risko offers another explanation.

“The idea that you don’t do a meme right is weird,” Risko said. “That’s like saying you don’t have the right gene. In this context the gene has mutated; the meme has mutated.”

Risko said that memes were an important medium through which a community could express a singular idea.

“It’s almost like a novel or a comic book,” Risko said. “It’s community-based storytelling. We live in a culture where community-based storytelling hasn’t happened yet, but [groups like Binghamton memes] strike me as a place where it might.”

Michael Gallagher, a senior majoring in English, thought the page had some funny memes, but overall was disappointing.

“I’ve been on the page, and I have seen a few funny pictures, but I think it’s going to get old very fast,” Gallagher said. “The ratio is one funny picture to 10 bad ones.”

Amanda Sterling, a sophomore majoring in history, said she thought the users of Binghamton Memes did not fully comprehend the memes.

“It’s pretty interesting, but it seems like most of the people posting never ventured on Tumblr to find out what a meme is,” Sterling said.

Heather Bergling, a sophomore majoring in human development, originally didn’t know much about the page, but said she thought it was hilarious.

“I didn’t know about [Binghamton Memes] at first, but after conversing with my friends, I found it to be hilarious,” Bergling said. “I check it often now, because it’s constantly flooding my news feed.”