"Be like Bill" is a social media meme that was introduced around late 2015, with its popularity greatly increasing in early 2016.[1]
The "be like Bill" meme typically features an image of a simple stick figure, who may be wearing a knitted hat, together with text such as "Bill is on Facebook. Bill is a vegan. Bill doesn't tell everybody about it. Bill is smart. Be like Bill."[1][2][3] The meme has been described as "a way for people to passive-aggressively call out social media behaviours that annoy them."[4] The meme also attracted a large number of detractors who criticized the meme's tone and lack of self-awareness.[5] Boston officials used the meme to discourage the use of space savers in parking spots.[6][7]
The meme has spawned foreign language variants with other characters, including Bilal (Arabic), Rashid (Malaysian), Jose (Spanish),[2] Petya (Russian), Qodos (Dari/Pashto),[8] and Juan (Tagalog).[9] There also exists a female variant with a character named Emily.[2]