Be the Reason Why Someone X

Submission 6,435

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About

Be the Reason Why Someone X is a phrasal template used in image macros and other memes, usually advising someone to act on social media in such a fashion that another person decides closes the app. The Be the Reason Why Someone Closes This App catchphrase gained virality in April 2021, with more versions of the snowclone appearing in 2022. The macros are typically created in Whisper.

Origin

In February 2016, writer Roy T. Bennett published the self-help book The Light in the Heart.^[1] In the book, the line "Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people” appears.

The quote, usually altered to "Be the reason someone smiles today" appeared in various inspirational image macros in the late 2010s (examples shown below).^[2]^[3]

Prior to April 18th, 2021, an unknown user posted an image macro reading, "Be the reason why someone closes this app." On that day, Instagram^[4] user willrepostmemes made the earliest discovered repost of the macro, with the post gaining over 2,300 likes in four months (shown below). More reposts by other Instagram^[5] accounts were made in the following days.

Spread

On April 30th, 2021, iFunny^[6] user Cheb1998 made the earliest found derivative meme within the trend, superimposing the macro onto an image of "Keanu Reeves";https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/keanu-reeves (shown below, left). The post gained 11 smiles. On July 14th, 2021, Twitter^[7] user @sexybitch_111 posted a Whisper macro of actress Lily-Rose Depp captioned with the phrase. The post gained over 24,800 retweets and 173,000 likes in one year (shown below, right).

The image was used as a reaction, primarily on Twitter, in the following months. More macros using the same catchphrase also appeared; for example, on July 20th, 2021, Instagram^[8] user gatsumaguire posted a Berserk meme that gained over 2,500 likes in one year (shown below, left). On November 9th, 2021, Twitter^[9] account @reactjpg archived a Ranboo version of the meme (shown below, center).

Prior to May 14th, 2022, an unknown Twitter account posted a Patrick Bateman meme captioned with the phrase that received viral spread in the following month (shown below, right).^[10]^[11]

Starting in June 2022, macros with other versions of the snowclone were posted on Reddit,^[12] Twitter^[13] and other platforms.