“Hotdog Hell” Chrome Extension Replaces Facebook Images With Dancing Hot Dog Filter
By now you’ve probably seen Snapchat’s Dancing Hot Dog augmented reality filter. The animated, breakdancing hot dog that you can place on objects in your environment is quickly becoming this summer’s hottest meme.
While the concept of augmented reality is pretty incredible, some might consider the dancing hot dog as Snapchat’s latest attempt to stay relevant.
Luckily enough, the Snapchat’s dancing hot dog became so popular — or loathed, depending on who you’re asking — that someone created a downloadable Google Chrome extension that replaces every image on Facebook with an image of the now famous dancing hot dog.
So, if you’re sick of your friend’s traffic selfie posts on Facebook, this “productivity extension,” will give you a break. I downloaded it, and it provided some much needed entertainment.
The extension, aptly named Hotdog Hell, was released on July 10, and now has more than 296 weekly users.
The extension’s developer, an 18-year old mathematics and computer science major, named Kevin Chen, said he created the extension after he fell in love with the vitality behind the bizarre filter.
“I saw the hotdog on Snapchat; a couple of my friends were sending it, and then people started putting it in random memes. It was just so utterly bizarre, and I loved it,” Chen said.
The two-week old extension is now Chen’s first project developed for public consumption on the Google Chrome web store. Still, the attention the “app” is generating was unexpected, according to Chen.
“Definitely exploded a lot more than I thought it would,” he said. ” I was pretty shocked on that first day, and I’m really happy that such an absurd meme gained so much traction.”
What’s interesting is that Hotdog Hell is categorized as a “productivity extension,” which undermines the silliness behind it, but also capitalizes on the meme’s absurdity and humor.
Chen said there was a conscious effort to make the joke of it being a “productivity extension” because it does make Facebook, “significantly harder to use.” Maybe that’s a good thing for some people.
While it seems the Dancing Hot Dog has become the Internet’s hottest meme character, there’s no telling exactly how Snapchat — the originator of the hot dog character — will react.
Although, Chen doesn’t seem worried, pointing to how viral the meme has become.
“So far, I haven’t been contacted by anyone from Snapchat about it, and I think at this point,” Chen continues, “the hot dog has a life of its own.”
