Twitter’s decision to double its character limit to 280 per tweet has made bad takes longer and joke writing less efficient, but it has also doubled the canvas size for people who paint pictures with text. The best new meme on the site wouldn’t have been possible before November 2017, but now it’s everywhere. If you haven’t seen the stars yet, you will soon.
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ﾟ· 。 * ☆ ｡ * ｡
*☆ * ★･｡
ﾟ ° ･ ﾟ☆ ｡
People will typically copy and paste these special characters above images in their tweets. When you see it on your timeline, it’ll look like the stars are an extension of the picture. (The effect doesn’t work so well with embedded tweets, as you’ll see below.)
The stars trend seems to have started with this March 29 tweet by user @naottri, who made contrasting Unicode stars part of the bottom image to create a seamless effect.
https://twitter.com/naottri/status/979368197697757184
Imitators soon followed, doing equally creative things with the star copypasta.
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ﾟ *.｡☆｡★ ･
* ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡
* ★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡
･ ﾟ☆ ｡ pic.twitter.com/BbcbW8ukGU— Red Panda (@RedPandasDaily) April 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/sophiemallins/status/981269915943538689
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☆ﾟ･｡°*. ﾟ
* ﾟ｡·*･｡ ﾟ*
ﾟ *.｡☆｡★ ･
* ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡
* ★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡
･ ﾟ☆ ｡ pic.twitter.com/cAEWWOdn73— Jordan Gibson (@gibsonagogo) April 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/ashiteshi/status/981563521128452104
https://twitter.com/sunrisejae/status/981563484956639232
https://twitter.com/NoGuarantyBlade/status/981563481228042245
https://twitter.com/darth/status/981564848575201280
･ ｡
— Madelyne Pryor’s Magical Girl Transformation (@DiscreetLatino) April 3, 2018
☆∴｡ *
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･ *ﾟ｡ *
･ ﾟ*｡･ﾟ★｡
☆ﾟ･｡°*. ﾟ
ﾟ｡·*･｡ ﾟ*
ﾟ *.｡☆｡★ ･
* ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡
* ★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡
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｡･ﾟ*.* ★ ﾟ･｡ * pic.twitter.com/ixQdyFNKlH
Huge accounts like the official League of Legends Twitter have started using the meme, helping it spread even further.
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･ *ﾟ｡ *
･ ﾟ*｡･ﾟ★｡
☆ﾟ･｡°*. ﾟ
* ﾟ｡·*･｡ ﾟ*
ﾟ *.｡☆｡★ ･
* ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡
* ★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡
･ ﾟ☆ ｡ pic.twitter.com/SJbQsZGFHI— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) April 4, 2018
It’s refreshing to see Twitter covered in stars after a month where SpongeBob SquarePants memes dominated the landscape. And it’s especially nice to see a cute, upbeat meme the morning after the internet was rattled by news of a shooting at YouTube’s Northern California headquarters.
The stars meme is accessible and low-effort, and it takes up a lot of space on the timeline, so it’s unlikely to stick around longer than a week before people get tired of it. But for right now, everyone seems content to enjoy a little positivity. Happy stargazing!