There's all kinds of stuff. For example, Anne Igartiburu and Anjel Mari Peñagarikano can be seen in New Year’s celebrations, giving themselves a quick kiss of lips while providing with long glasses of champagne. Or Carlos Iturgaiz in parliament, in the side seat, instead of the ruthless one, had to push the button of the vote, play and get tangled. Or Odón Elorza, on his way to the barricades, with his wide gabardine and his tight chest, until he suddenly recovers and hides behind a car. Or Roberto Moso, on the edge of the Nervión, dancing like a devil. Who knows? Maybe to move on to history you don't need to show up in the big books anymore. Just stay frozen forever in the loop of a GIF.

Of course, the one who does so does not, fortunately, have far-reaching claims. Most of the time, not always, they are used to laugh a little bit. Also among the Basques. Recently, Joxe Rojas claimed the need for GIFs in Basque, the balance to the network of Basque twitters has bitten the hook – looking for #euskalGIF on Twitter – and with this the topic of viral contents of the network has been put on the table. In these times of social networks, a new, increasingly visual form of communication is being imposed, which gives priority to speed in the face of substance. For Rojas, this is very appropriate for viral content, “because they are simple, they understand a blow of an eye, and brief, easy to repeat.”

According to Galder González, it is not a question of collecting content on social networks, but of indicating that it has received it. Therefore, some contents manage to awaken the attention of several people at a given moment: when expressing they contaminate. “I may have seen the video, but he hasn’t said anything. But now you want to participate in the conversation of others. The internet is basically dialogue.”

But what characteristics does a content have to fulfill to be viral? Ana Malagón does not believe that there is a concrete formula. “I would highlight the ability to connect with the context or mood situation of a given moment. With the receiver at a personal level or more generally with social actuality”. Rojas has more characteristics: to be brief and to be able to understand it without explanations. “Of course, humor is also important.” For González, a community that assumes the imaginary of the content is essential: “The followers of ARGIA think Beranegi’s jokes disperse a lot. But there are thousands of young people walking through social media without knowing what we're talking about. They will have their own viral content if there is a community.” That's why you often find virality misunderstood: “We create phrases like viral content, but it should be the other way around: we create a community that can reproduce some content. It’s a virality that under Whatsapp receives the same content in a very short time from three sites.”

Instrument for setting the collective imaginary

There were hardly any Basque GIFs about two months ago when Rojas posted the theme in his blog: “Animated GIF can be found in English, Spanish, French… but in Basque?” He wanted, according to him, to satisfy a shortcoming: “In Whatsapp groups, viral content is disseminated continuously. And if there is no content generated from us, we turn to content created by others. I'm sure many of our kids don't know who Xabier Saldias is, but Julio Iglesias gets much better known, even though his record work is completely unknown." That is why he believes that GIFs can be the best means to consolidate and reproduce the collective imaginary.

Gonzalez also considers it important that these contents are generated in the reality of Euskal Herria. Another thing is that there may be more than one community among the Basques. “I sent a Basque friend some #euskalGIF that were ridiculous to me, but for him they were not graceful.” However, they find it the right tools to work their own humor and, with a little luck, attract new people to Euskera and “our vision of the world.” Rojas thinks similarly that the memes that emerged from the Basque Country can fulfill the bridge to the Spanish-speaking community. “Often, the image is the main component of the meme. This can help those who do not know Basque well also use Basque memes, and if it is nothing else, it can be a good way to incorporate Basque referents into the collective imaginary”.

The GIFs have an eminently practical use for Málaga. “Just as the African-American community uses animated GIF of Oprah Winfrey to express almost anything, it would help us use our common referents to make our 140-character statements more understandable. We don't have Oprah, but, well, we have Maria Luisa de Goenkale."

Beyond humor

Although memes, GIFs and the like are created humorously, beyond this record they are also useful. That's what Rojas says. “You can create a two-paragraph text to explain that lehendakari is more than lukewarm with issues of self-determination, or you can do a moment with two words like ‘the foral international’ to say the same. I don’t think in those cases humor is the biggest meme burden.” However, it is undeniable that, in viral content, humor tends to be more successful, according to Malagón. “We’re looking for short, light things. We must be aware of the presence of social networks and messaging systems in our free time, including leisure in working hours.”

The issue of virality is not new. “Goviral!” (let the campaign be viral!) Ten years ago, in online advertising agencies, they screamed, as Malagón remembers: “Today I don’t know if this is the case or if they have surrendered seeing that every time something was sought that was viral, virality was not obtained and, on the contrary, it was obtained when it was not sought.” Rojas and González have listed some of the viral campaigns they remember: in politics, for example, “V de Bildu”. In advertising Patxiii! by Euskaltel the famous Keler Epa and the #darpidegu ARGIA campaign. Rojas reminded another: “The ads of the Bartolo Restaurant in the Basque Country. They're so haunting that I'm starting to think they're made on purpose. There are no more explanations than those they have made to seek virality.”

Be natural and it's over

Instead of talking about viral content in Euskera, Rojas considered that viral content in Euskera should be talked about and not content in Euskera. “In these cases the burden of language is small, the main message is in the image, and that must be taken advantage of in our favor.” Remember one example: “A few years ago that song Trololo de Eduard Khil became one of the most popular, although we had no Russian. Xabier Saldias will forgive me, but is his ‘olereilis’ and the like not exportable?” On the other hand, it does not consider it essential to disseminate content to the whole world. “If we get some memes to have great circulation within the Basque tribe, it will be a great achievement, considering that we live surrounded by gigantic linguistic and cultural communities capable of consuming and producing much more than we do.” Similarly, González believes: “Virality does not depend on the size of the community, but on the reaction it generates in that community.”

The Basque memorial has only just begun. And for the road, it's almost better to dismantle the national construction backpack that wears us so tired. Malagón makes it clear: “We have a lot to do with being natural and sincere in our statements.”