World Record Egg

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About

World Record Egg, also known as The Egg Meme and Instagram Egg, is a stock photograph of an egg that became the most-liked post on Instagram in mid-January 2019, overtaking a post by Kylie Jenner announcing the birth of her daughter Stormi Webster. Online, fans of the egg are referred to as members of the "Egg Gang" and refer to the egg as "Eugene."

Origin

On January 4th, 2019, the @world_record_egg Instagram page uploaded a photograph of a brown egg along with the description "Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram" (shown below). Within 10 days, the post gained over 28.3 million likes, overtaking the previous most-liked post^[3] published by Kylie Jenner in February 2018.^[7]

Precursors

Can This Onion Ring Get More Fans Than Justin Bieber

On February 1st, 2010, Facebook user Toby Brittan created a page titled "Can this onion ring get more fans than Justin Bieber?" . The page has since been deleted. Two days later, a page titled "Can this pickle get more fans than Nickelback?" was launched by Facebook user Coral Anne.

Spread

On January 10th, Redditor demesmank submitted a screenshot of the Instagram post with 336,712 likes to /r/madlads.^[5] Within 72 hours, the post gathered more than 39,000 points (88% upvoted) and 490 comments on the subreddit.

On January 13th, The New York Times^[2] published an article about the Instagram post titled "An Egg, Just a Regular Egg, Is Instagram’s Most-Liked Post Ever." Meanwhile, Redditor iGotEDfromaComercial submitted an image juxtaposing the egg post with Kylie Jenner's Instagram post, comparing their respective likes (shown below). Within 14 hours, the post received upwards of 90,400 points (93% upvoted) and 1,500 comments on /r/madlads.^[8]

That day, Kylie Jenner tweeted a video of herself cracking an egg on the ground in response to the egg post (shown below).

Also on January 13th, the @theworldrecordnut^[10] Instagram feed posted a photograph of a pistachio, along with a call for viewers to help the post become the most-liked post on the platform (shown below). Meanwhile, a similar post was made by @world_record.hen,^[9] featuring a photograph of a chicken. Within 16 hours, the post received more than 18,500 likes. The following day, Redditor Apricot-tree submitted a post asking "What is up with the egg picture on Instagram gaining so many likes?" to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[4] where it received upwards of 2,400 points (91% upvoted) and 270 comments that day.

Creator's Identity

On January 13th, BuzzFeed News^[13] published an article about the egg post, which identified the @world_record_egg account holder as "Henrietta." The following day, Instagram user Supreme Patty posted a video of himself getting a tattoo of the egg picture (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained over 2.7 million views.

On January 15th, 2019, The Independent^[12] published an interview with the @world_record_egg account, who claimed to be "an individual living in London" operating under the pseudonym "Eugene the egg."

That day, TMZ^[11] posted a video in which a man standing next to Supreme Patty, Daddy Long Neck and Charles McDowell claimed that Patty "runs the page." In the article, TMZ noted that Patty would not confirm the allegation.

That day, the @world_record_egg feed posted an Instagram story featuring a direct message to TMZ claiming "We're still anonymous" and accusing the media company of publishing "fake news" (shown below).

MrBeast Video

On January 16th, 2019, YouTuber MrBeast uploaded a video titled "Make This Video The Most Liked Video On YouTube," which gathered upwards of 11.7 million views and 4.6 million likes over the next five days, making it the 2nd most liked non-music video on the platform (shown below).

Ishan Goel

On January 17th, 2019, the news site Toofab^[16] published an interview with 19-year-old marketer Ishan Goel, who claimed he discovered the egg when it was "just under a million likes" and reached out to the creator of the feed "to help take it viral." In the coming weeks, Goel was reportedly blocked by the @world_record_egg account.^[17]

Cracked Egg

On January 18th, 2019, the @world_record_egg^[14] feed posted a photograph of the egg with a small crack in the upper-left corner (shown below). Within 48 hours, the post gained over 7.5 million likes.

That day, Twitter user @realBigBake^[15] uploaded a photoshopped picture of the egg revealing XXXTentacion underneath a crack along with the caption "Jahsegg" (shown below).

Jerry Media Marketing

On January 31st, 2019, The Atlantic^[17] published an article by staff writer Taylor Lorenz titled "The World-Record Instagram Egg Is Going to Make Someone Very Rich." According to the article, the anonymous creator of the account hired the viral marketing agency Jerry Media to pitch a deck to the Need to Impeach organization, showing the egg cracking to reveal the words "Impeach Trump" along with an animation of Trump performing a chicken dance. Additionally, the article contained a statement from marketer Nik Sharma of VaynerMedia, who claimed, "Being the first brand to crack out of the egg is worth at least $10 million."

Mental Health Ad

On February 3rd, 2019, a commercial played on Hulu during Super Bowl LIII in which an animated depiction of the egg cracks open due to "the pressure of social media" before reassembling itself and promoting TalkingEgg.info, a website highlighting a list of various mental health organizations by the nonprofit organization Mental Health America. That day, The New York Times^[18] published an interview with the account's creator Chris Godfrey, identified as "a 29-year-old advertising creative who works at The & Partnership in London."

On February 4th, the @world_record_egg account reposted the video. Within two hours, the video accumulated upwards of 4.2 million views.