Who Is “Binod” And Why Is He All Over The Internet?

Written by Niharika Nayak, BA (Media & Communication)  • 

If you’ve been bored during quarantine, you’ve probably been scrolling down the rabbit hole of social media pages. Since most of us are stuck at home, the only way we can interact with others is through social networking websites and messaging apps. Websites like Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram have been overflowing with memes related to this one particular character called Binod. However, his origins seem to be just as mysterious as his name. Everyone is talking about Binod but who the hell is he? Read this article to find out why social media has gone wild over this meme:

The Original Binod

Well, nobody knows who the real Binod is or what he looks like. The original Binod is a person named Binod Tharu who had the weird habit of commenting just his name on their Youtube videos. He was brought to the limelight by a viral video from two YouTubers, Abhyudaya and Gautami. The pair run a channel called, “Slayy Point” and produce humorous content. In this particular video, they addressed odd and mindless comments they see in the comments section of their videos. The hilarious video showcases Indians of the most advanced social knowledge attempting to spark up conversations on the internet (sarcasm) You can watch the hilarious video here.

The pair make hilarious memes of the character and much to their surprise, the memes took off. Soon people all over the internet were commenting his name and making jokes about him. The internet was heavily divided on this topic as some believed it was being blown out of proportion while some had absolutely no idea what was going on. So let’s take a look at how some brands have gotten in on the fun too (1).

Tinder, PayTm And Netflix Join In On The FunX

Tinder, PayTm And Netflix Join In On The FunX
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Image: Twitter

The people who run the social media pages of these brands sure know how to strike while the iron is hot. Netflix gave a shoutout to their own version of Binod, a man named Armaan, who they said had commented on each of their tweets asking them to add actor Al Pacino’s movies to their collection for the past one year. However, PayTm took things up a notch and changed the name of their twitter account to BINOD for a day and commented “Done” once the move happened. A Twitter follower had earlier jokingly asked the brand to do the same and nobody thought they would actually follow through with it. Talk about genius marketing tactics.

Tinder, PayTm And Netflix Join In On The FunX
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Image: Twitter

Swiggy tooted their own horn by tweeting that they thought Binod would be the first to call them and wish them on their sixth anniversary. Even mobile network service provider Airtel joined in by encouraging its fans to prank unsuspecting callers by answering the phone and saying “Haan Binod Bol”.

Tinder, PayTm And Netflix Join In On The FunX
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Image: Twitter

Tinder India’s status said, “Yes Binod is on Tinder” and then proceeded to tweet out a love story between Binod and his Tinder match, Binodini. Tinder released a bunch of ‘‘pun-tastically’’ hilarious tweets out to its fans and people were loving it. Amazon Prime India too released their own meme about Binod (2).

Tinder, PayTm And Netflix Join In On The FunX
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Image: Twitter

Even The Police Join In

This meme has had everyone either scratching their heads or rolling their eyes in disbelief. And if you think the meme-making is limited to the social media page of just brands, then you’d be totally wrong. Many police twitter accounts took part in the meme and released their own tweets. Mumbai police brought up how important online safety in our world is and wrote, “Dear Binod, we hope your name is not your online password. It’s pretty viral, change it now!”. The Nagpur police wrote about how COVID is more famous than Binod and that he should stay at home and stay safe. The state of Maharashtra has been hit pretty bad by the virus. As of today, the state has around The total count of cases in the state now is 5.3 lakh with 1.48 active cases while the death toll is 18,306 (3).

The Jaipur Police’s Twitter handle came up with a helpful acronym for Binod.

They wrote, What is #BINOD?

“B – Buckle up the seat belt before driving
I – Inform Police about any suspicious activity
N – Never drink and drive
O – Obey COVID guidelines
D – Dial 100 for any help or assistance”

It’s wonderful to see law enforcement make use of social media platforms to reach out to wider audiences and spread positive messages and awareness. Since Twitter is a platform that is used by many age groups, it is considered a reliable platform to reach out to not just regular people but celebrities and politicians as well. Even Bollywood celebrity reality show, Bigg Boss got in on the memes and tweeted out that they’re wondering why people are speculating about Binod being a contestant on the next season of the reality show.

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that this Binod meme has made an impact on people and will probably continue to dominate our social media pages for a while. However, like every meme and trend, it will probably be replaced by another within a few weeks. Do let us know what you think about the Binod meme? Is it genuinely funny or do you think people are bored? Tell us all your thoughts in the comments section below.

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