A cuantocabron post without desmotivaciones.

http://www.cuantocabron.com/http://desmotivaciones.es/

Monday: 18:00 pm.

You know you should be doing your homework and hands and project, but you are not. Instead, it’s been half and hour since you switched up the computer to check your mail. You don’t now how, but you have ended up laughing at the cartoons of cuantocabron.es and desmotivaciones.es…Why the hell they are so addictive?

I´m sure you know what are both web pages about, but for those who appreciate their time they consist on funny pictures uploaded by users who are obliged to follow a common item, like a funny face  in the first case or a black frame in the second one.  These images are not made by one person, but for lots of users who want to share their ingenious ideas. John Pavlik would have described its content as the fourth form, because it has been exclusively designed to a digital environment.

 Not only they publish their images but they moderate the best ones. They act like both publishers and published because you can twit about them or share your impressions on Facebook. Combine this great feedback doses with a great amount of user-generated content and you get it: some of the most popular webs among Spanish young population. They are not still on the rankings, but about six cartoons are uploaded per day and each of them has 2000 votes on average, and they offer links to past posts. Of course, companies have approached this opportunity to take up this web with banners, drawing an advertising model in terms of business.

Why it rules? These webs are related with funny anecdotes of our daily life, so everyone feels identified in one way or another. Furthermore, is becoming usual that real conversations among friends end in the same way that these pictures do. Here it is an example:

 Maybe it is not the best one but…It´s something

All types of humour are collected in this page: yellow, stupid, political, critical… Cartoons are wit and easy to recognize, so everyone knows Yao Ming, Challenge Accepted, Forever Alone or the annoying Trollface. Once they catch your eye it is impossible to stop. Same story is repeated in Desmotivaciones but the essence keeps being the same: comedy. Life and media are so full of tragedy that we need to disconnect… and Salvame Deluxe is not the best option (at least for me).

As I said, both webs are a great example of how user-generated content is invading Internet. We are so sick of the same stuff provided by companies that we decide to create our own world. This kind of civil participation shows that all we have some creativity inside of us and ideas are not personal, so why not share it? 

Now, it’s 19:00 PM of a Monday afternoon and you are in the same situation as the beginning. Of course, your mail has not been checked yet. I don’t want to be weary but the more pages you visit the least you’ll sleep. Please, would you mind to take your duties seriously?

 Ok…