How Evil is the Duolingo Owl?

I think we all know by now that I spend WAAAAAAYYYYY too much time on TikTok. And if you don't, read this previous blog post of mine to get up to speed. 

But I can't help it! The content is just too good! 

I think I went too far down the rabbit hole, though, because the Duolingo owl came for me now. I haven't touched my lessons since August!

The famous Duolingo owl

To those who don't spend an inappropriate amount of time on the Internet (please teach me your secrets), Duolingo is an app that teaches you a foreign language for free! 

They have a variety of common languages, like Spanish, French, Japanese, Hebrew, Chinese, Swahili, Korean, Arabic, and Hindi. But they also offer lessons in High Valyrian, Hawaiian, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Latin, Navajo, Klingon, and Yiddish.

Duolingo is actually a trendsetter in teaching endangered languages! I downloaded Duolingo for the specific purpose of learning Yiddish. It went so well that now my mom and sister have Duolingo and even my grandma downloaded it! That's how effective the platform is - no matter your age or level, it's entertaining and fits to suit your level.

Duolingo push notification via OpenBack

Duolingo is also good at keeping your attention because once you download the app, you start getting reminders to do your daily lesson. 

They work so well at reminding you to do your Duolingo lesson. Except, users on the Internet started realizing that the notifications became more threatening than friendly.

Mildly threatening Duolingo push notifications via Twitter

This launched an Internet frenzy.

Meme via Reddit

Post after post on the Internet followed meme after meme that broke down how scary and threatening the Duolingo owl, Duo, is. eBaum's World and Mashable both articulated the evolution of the owl from mild and friendly to threatening and evil.

Here are just a few of the many memes via Let's Eat Cake that have circulated around the Internet about the Duolingo owl, with many more examples available via the link.

The groundswell has obviously decided that the Duo owl is evil. And Duolingo, following our textbook to a T, responded accordingly.

Older videos published to Duolingo's TikTok account showcase a certain kind of content:

Well that's not groundswell responsive. Why in the heck would I write all about that terrifying owl for no reason? Because of Duolingo's newer TikTok videos:

*chef's kiss* THAT, my friends, is how organizations should be responding to and engaging with the groundswell. Duolingo saw the trend that was taking place online and ran with it. And their engagement went WAY UP!!! Previous TikToks averaged a few thousand likes each, but these have several million likes EACH.

And as if the videos weren't enough, Duolingo responds to comments a la groundswell style too! Take a look at these screenshots taken from the various above videos:

Honestly, can we check if Duolingo's marketing person took this course with our professor or something? Cuz it's not the owl that's scary, but exactly how well they're following our textbook.

In all realness though, Duolingo does an amazing job monitoring the groundswell, adjusting to what it says, and responding to it based on what they discover. It's obvious that those efforts are rewarded as likes and engagement on their TikTok account are now way through the roof. We could learn a lot from Duolingo (and yes, that includes the languages they offer).

What are your thoughts on how Duolingo interacts with the groundswell? Let me know in the comments below! And maybe let's just all make a pact to do our Duolingo lessons tonight, I'm worried they'll come for me after this post.