If you've never heard of eight-year-old Gavin Thomas, you clearly aren't one of the millions of people around the world who have fallen in love with the young Internet sensation.
But it isn't in his native United States where Gavin has really hit the big time, but that honor belongs to China. Since creating a profile a mere four months ago on Weibo, Gavin has gained an astonishing 1.8 million followers—and the number continues to grow, along with his fame. On Twitter, by comparison, Gavin has a mere 450,000 followers.
Why is a young American, born in Minnesota and still in elementary school, an instant sensation in the largest country in the world? It's because of Gavin's unique facial expressions, which have become a hugely successful, viral meme.
Gavin first made a name for himself in the US, when short videos of him playing with his uncle Nick Mastodon quickly became a hit online. But it wasn't until Gavin's videos spread organically to the Chinese cyberspace, particularly one of him reacting with a nervous smile to a gecko being placed on his head, that his fame truly took off.
"A gif of Gavin's face, smiling awkwardly, might be used as many as 10 million times a day across China's various social media platforms," Ann Ding, founder and CEO of Dongtu.com, a major distributor of online gifs, told CNN.
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