From “Social Media Explained,” via the Forbes Marketshare blog:

SOCIAL MEDIA EXPLAINED:

Twitter: I am eating a #hotdog

Facebook: I like hotdogs

Foursquare: Here is where I eat hotdogs

Hipstamatic: Here’s a vintage pic of my hotdog

YouTube: Here, I am eating a hotdog!

Linkedin: My skills include eating hotdogs

Spotify: Listening to Hotdog

Google+: I work at Google and eat hotdogs

I’ve been seeing this joke make the rounds for the past couple of weeks now, each time with a different main activity (“eating donuts,” “taking a pee,” etc.), but the idea still rings true. It’s a neat little package to help define and describe the “point” of social media that still somehow manages to elude so many. Plus, it good-naturedly mocks the inherent narcissism and self-promotion that goes along with so many of our digital portals… he said on his blog that was named after him.

But— I think we need to also take a look at how other, non-social forms of media might convey this same hot dog-eating idea:

TV: BUY THESE HOT DOGS! Attractive people eat them! HOT DOGS!

Radio: For your FREE hot dog, call 1-866-HOT-DOG. That’s 1-866-HOT-DOG. That number again is 1-866-HOT-DOG. Again, 1-866-HOT-DOG. Call now!

Yellow Pages: AAAA-Brand Hot Dog Sellers! “Look for the quintuple A!”

Spam: Incre@$e Y0ur H0+ D0g $ize in tw0 week$ FREE!

Telemarketer: Are you currently satisfied with your hot dog provider?

Billboard: Hot dogs.

See? These are a lot more annoying. That’s why I’ll take Instagram’s vintage hot dogs pics any day.