That would ruin the fun for my followers,” said Cifala.īrands have a history of using social media shitposters to sell products, with the content often blurring the line between advertisements and comedy. “I don’t want it to turn into a big pool of advertisements.

Dozens of local businesses have reached out to ask about advertising, she said, but she doesn’t plan on charging local businesses for getting memed, especially if they offer a good or service she’d post about anyway. Cifala is deciding how - and if - to monetize the meme page. Still, running a suddenly popular account is not without its challenges. After she graduated college in the middle of the pandemic with a degree in journalism, Cifala spent some time in Florida before landing back in Philadelphia this May.Ĭifala said running makes her feel as if she’s “finally been initiated into the city” because she can relate to most of the content she posts. Cifala is from West Virginia, but spent summers living in the city as a visiting student at the prestigious Rock School for Dance Education. Though there’s plenty of universal experiences in Philadelphia, Cifala says submissions are essential because “there are niche experiences in different neighborhoods that I may know nothing about.”Īlso, she isn’t a Philly native. Meanwhile, her followers love jokes about local nightlife, like paying a $40 cover at Voyeur, or idiosyncratic local news items, like the Tastykake mesh wire recall. As for who comes up with the affirmations? It’s a mix of her own jokes and ideas from followers via a Google form Cifala keeps updating to allow more storage as the suggestions roll in. Once you live in Philly for a certain amount of time, you begin to pick up on all of the city’s little quirks, and it’s fun to share content that’s personal to you but relatable to everyone.”Ĭifala designs each post on PicsArt, a graphic design application, and says the whole process takes under a minute. “But when I think about it, it makes sense. I never thought the account would have this many followers,” said Cifala, who manages social media accounts for two local nonprofits and a real estate agency but has never touched a project of this scale. Now, has over 25,000 followers and nets over 2 million impressions weekly, well above the city’s population of 1.6 million residents. Followers skyrocketed from just under 3,000 to over 20,000 in one weekend. The account didn’t find traction outside her friend group until early November, when Philly lifestyle TikToker reposted one of her memes and bro brand Barstool Philly spent a day resharing her content on their Instagram story. “It started out as a joke,” Cifala told Billy Penn.

Lock me up meme