#johning

About

#Johning is a Twitter based photo fad that involves posing for a picture while lying on the floor with one’s legs over the footboard of a bed and a laptop on the stomach. It is a parody of a photograph of young adult author and vlogger John Green published by Hollywood Reporter in May 2014.

Origin

On May 1st, 2014, The Hollywood Report^[1] published an article titled “‘Fault in Our Stars’ Author John Green: Why He’s ‘Freaking Out’ About Hollywood Success,” which featured a photo of Green lying on the floor with his legs resting on a bed and his laptop on his stomach.

The same day popular YouTube vlogger Charlie McDonnell^[2] tweeted a picture featuring him striking the same pose with the hashtag #Johning.

Proud that I utilise the same writing position as NYT best selling author realjohngreen. Try it at home! #Johning pic.twitter.com/ArAXKEzVVM</p>— Charlie McDonnell (coollike) May 1, 2014

In less than 24 hours the tweet gained over 1,000 retweets and over 6,000 favorites.

Spread

On May 1st, 2014, Hank Green, John Green’s brother and co-host of YouTube channel Vlogbrothers, posted a collection of tweeted #Johning photos, as well as one of his own, on his Tumblr blog^[4] with the caption:

“Something just happened on Twitter…be careful while #johnning.

In less than 24 hours the post gained over 42,000 notes.

The same day John Green reblogged^[5] the post with the caption:

“When they were taking that picture, I was like, “If you use this, people are going to make fun of me.” But I had no idea it would be so wonderful.”

On May 2nd, the photo fad was covered by The Daily Dot^[6] with a piece titled “This awkward John Green photo is now a full-fledged Twitter meme.” In less than 24 hours the hashtag #Johning^[3] was tweeted out over 2,700 times.