We may all have seen or used memes or 'gifs' on social media with the so-called 'Baby Yoda', a character from the popular series 'The Malandorian, Star Wars'.
The image of this character is being widely used to describe various situations, mostly humorous, through memes. Today it is considered one of the most used memes in the world on social networks.
But how did this character become so famous and so desirable?
Behind all this stands the boy named Grant Homan. Initially, he shared the memes he created with 'Baby Yoda' only with his friends.
"When my friends got tired of posting memes in group chat, I decided to post them on Instagram," said Homan, a 24-year-old accountant in Le Plata, Maryland.
There, he found an 'eager' audience for this character and @ baby.yoda.memes_ has become one of the most followed accounts dedicated to the extraterrestrial 'baby'. It has 39,700 followers and a slogan: "All Baby Yoda, All the Time".
Homan, has also been able to generate revenue through sponsored content, for brands like PopSockets. In connection with his profits from these ads he states: "More than I ever expected."
In "The Mandalorian", Baby Yoda is a refugee and the Mandalorian titular is his armored guardian and surrogate father. In our world, he has found a home online - especially Instagram, where the character became the app's biggest pop culture sensation last year.
Probably no show or TV movie has produced more memes in the last 12 months than Baby Yoda. Over four dozen Instagram accounts have come out dedicated to Baby Yoda memes. #BabyYoda has been used 1.4 million times, easily beating titles like Tiger King (509,000), Love is Blind (267,000) and 90 Day Fiancé (263,000), three of the other most talked about fun characters on Instagram over the past year.
But why specifically ‘Baby Yoda’ has been embraced with so much love?
His biggest fans have expressed: "He is the most adorable creature on the planet. You see Baby Yoda and say, 'Yes, this is the best thing I have ever seen in my life."
The fact is that before 'Baby Yoda' gained so much virtual fame, Disney could not push it to the people. Now Disney is marketing this character a lot and according to Homan, fame on Instagram is the reason for this success.
Homan has spent the last two weeks reposting his most popular memes, and counting down to the premiere of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, which will air on Friday.
Homan says the composition of his audience surprised him, as 65% to 70% of his account followers are girls and women aged 18 to 35, a contrast to the stereotypical idea of â??â??a STAR WARS fan - a boy little one or a man who can not escape if he has a little boy.
And through Instagram polls, Homan has revealed that half of his audience are not followers of the Star Wars series. They are there, first of all, for Baby Yoda and his memes.
