Page 56, sentence 5

Time was when an Internet meme would last for weeks or months. Nowadays, on Facebook they come and go within hours. At 14:43 today my friend Terry posted this on Facebook:

Grab the book nearest you. Right now. Turn to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post that sentence as your status, and post these instructions in a comment to this status. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the closest book.

Four more of my Facebook friends followed suit within a few hours, but by tomorrow — Monday at the latest — it will all be over. As soon as an item scrolls off the bottom of the Facebook news feed, it’s almost as if it never existed. You can dig around for it, but I suspect hardly anybody does. If you want your meme to last, don’t use Facebook!