Memes | Cheryl Waller

Brands latched onto the "Harlem Shake" phenomenon, quickly creating their own versions of the video meme and posting them on YouTube and Facebook

While these brands' participation may look like fun and games, the social media managers and marketing teams behind them hope that riding the coattails of "Harlem Shake" will pay off in video views, likes, shares and positive comments.

Videos from Pepsi, Red Bull, Topshop, HootSuite and Intel are among the brands that attracted he most YouTube views (watch them in the gallery), while brands such as Beats by Dre, Lego, Ask.com, KFC and Dr. Pepper performed well on Facebook, according to data shared first with Mashable from social media analysis company Unmetric.

Arrr! Ye Mashable readers know today be Talk Like a Pirate Day 2010, but were ye landlubbers aware that there be more ways t’ celebrate online than there are bottles o’ rum in ol’ Jack Sparrow’s locker?

Thar be danger in the social media seas — sour enemies tellin’ tales that aren’t ‘tall funny. Ye scurvy dogs want only the best when ye enjoy ye Internet memes!

These five selections be just a few o’ th’ ways ye and ye hearties can set sail together this evenin’, so be sure and parlay in th’ comments if ye be havin’ any other clever ideas.

1. Make Facebook Speak Pirate

Facebook supports countless languages, but one of them is pirate speak — did you know that? Just go to “Account Settings” (in the top-right corner of your Facebook home page), click the “Language” tab and pick “English (Pirate).”

The result can only be described as hilarity. Be sure and look around all over Facebook because virtually everything is affected. Events are now “Grog Fests,” all your friends’ names begin with “Cap’n,” the act of deleting comments is achieved by clicking “T’ Davy Jones wit’ it!” and the Like button simply says “Arr!”

Other companies have piggybacked their own gags on this. Visit Mint.com’s Facebook page in your native language, then return in English (Pirate) and you’ll see what we’re talking about.

2. Use Google Maps to Find Pirate Parrrties Tonight

Pirate Parrrties are being held around the world in celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day 2010. Some people dress up, drink rum, bring parrots and actually talk like pirates, so if you’re into that more power to ya, but some folks just show up for good conversation and a beer or two. And there’s no arguing with the appeal of that.

There’s a Google Map that shows the locations of numerous parrrties around the world. Just click one one of the blue markers for more information and set sail for a night of plundering, grog and adventure.

3. Watch Funny Pirate YouTube Videos

This one’s pretty obvious. Just search YouTube for “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (or just “pirates”) and you’ll uncover a treasure trove of hilarity from the past few years of celebrations. We don’t have much to add to this — just try it!

Read the Funny Pirate Tweets

This is really the heart of Talk Like a Pirate Day, and it’s where it all began — with people talking like pirates on Facebook and Twitter. Search Twitter for “Talk Like a Pirate Day” and you’re bound to see some retweets of some very funny messages.

Our favorite so far is the one we’ve included above from NPR News. “N-P-Aaarrrrrrrrr!!!” Get it? Yeah, you get it. Now go get some more funny tweets.

Play Most of the Monkey Island Saga For Mere Pennies

Ron Gilbert’s The Secret of Monkey Island, produced by LucasArts, is one of the greatest computer adventure games of all time. It’s chock full of gorgeous artwork, hilarious characters, hysterical dialogue and ridiculous puzzles. The series was recently rebooted with remastered, high definition versions of the first two games (so far) on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Additionally, a well-respected adventure games studio called Telltale Games produced episodic new adventures called Tales of Monkey Island. The only two Monkey Island games you can’t play recent versions of are Curse of Monkey Island and Escape From Monkey Island, though if you’re crafty you should be able to get those to work on your PC.

However, both of the Remastered re-releases and the entire Tales series are on sale for practically nothing this weekend in celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day. These deals are simply incredible, especially the iPhone ones and the Tales bundle. Here are the links:

The Secret of Monkey Island (iPhone) — $0.99
The Secret of Monkey Island (iPad) — $4.99
Monkey Island II: LeChuck’s Revenge (iPhone) — $0.99
Monkey Island II: LeChuck’s Revenge (iPad) — $4.99
The Secret of Monkey Island & Monkey Island II: LeChuck’s Revenge (PC) – $7.49 for the set
Tales of Monkey Island Episodes 1-5 (PC, Mac) — $4.95 for the set

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JerryPDX

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