Zoom In

About

Zoom In refers to a series of images in which the person posting them instructs the viewer to "Zoom in on the X." Once the viewer zooms in on the object, they find a tiny bit of text that instructs them to look somewhere else in the picture. This continues until the viewer discovers the punchline or true message written in tiny text on the image.

Original

On February 25th, 2017, Twitter user @SNCKPCK^[1] posted an image of a dog with the instruction "zoom in on the nose." After giving a couple directions leading viewers around the image, he finally lands on a tiny bit of text that says "You are beautiful" (shown below). The tweet gained over 29,000 retweets.

Spread

@SNCKPCK made several more "Zoom In" pictures and posted them into a Twitter Moments compilation that gained over 200 likes.^[2] One of his works was posted to /r/WholesomeMemes^[3] on the 26th and gained over 41,000 karma points. Meanwhile, "Zoom In" variations began taking off on Twitter. An hour after @SNCKPCK's first post, @mmarinelli98^[4] posted a variation with a honey-roasted peanut that gained over 69,000 retweets (below, left). The next day, @Dylan475^[5] posted a variation that led to a The Warriors Blew a 3-1 Lead punchline that gained nearly 32,000 retweets (below, right).

Within a day, anti-variations appeared and media coverage followed. The Daily Dot,^[6] The Verge,^[7] and Select All^[8] all covered the meme.

Denny's Tweet

On March 1st, 2017, Denny's, the American breakfast chain restaurant best known for their social media efforts, uploaded their version of the Zoom In meme, landing on "has this distracted you from overwhelming existential dread lol". The tweet, shown below, was massively successful, gaining over 119,000 retweets in one week.

The tweet was successful enough that it generated significant media attention. Today,^[9] People,^[10] Business Insider,^[11] and many more covered the success of the tweet. adweek^[12] dubbed it one of the most successful brand tweets ever. In his interview with the publication, Denny's Chief Marketing Officer explained that the Zoom In tweet was part of Denny's effort to remain relevant online. “It’s critical that our content be current and relevant to the conversations that are happening across America," he said.

Various Examples

Editor's Note: All examples need to be opened in Twitter for the full effect.

Search Interest

External References