Best memes of World Cup week

The stats point to the fact that we are increasingly integrating our 'screens', i.e., watching television with our phones or tablets handy. Most TV shows (series and lifestyle) these days carry hashtags so people can comment or have conversations about the content they are consuming, as it happens - as if you were in a room with friends or going for coffee after a movie.

The World Cup especially has produced some classic memes and because it's Friday and school holidays, this is my pick of the best memes of the past week that trended across the globe.

Bite me

I didn't watch the infamous match, but was on Twitter moments after the match ended and within five minutes I knew all about it, had seen the pix and watched the footage - and noted the first hysterical comments coming through. I think it was within 20 minutes that the first adverts were up, whether real or doctored, I wasn't sure, but they were very funny.

What was really interesting when clicking through to the #Suarez hashtag that was trending, was the global outcry and debate happening, in every language. It was almost unprecedented - but then the World Cup crosses boundaries like no other global event.

Even the sheer number of mentions in the 48-72 hours after the incident was a global benchmark, even for viral memes and Twitter. This very fact made international news, as did the memes being played out across both the mainstream media, as well as social media. Suarez is certainly the most infamous soccer player of all time now.

He was parodied in everything from Jaws posters, Dracula fangs, to fast food adverts and there was even a classic pic of him wearing a 'stop bite dog collar'. According to Topsy.com analytics, there were close to 11 million tweets about the Suarez biting incident.

The jokes they keep on chomping along...

This one is via Fansided.com which found this Suarez bottle opener on BMT Promotions with the product description: "You can amuse your friends with this hysterical bottle opener caricature and put Suarez's special gift to good use! Opening your favourite brew!"

Snickers (@Snickers) were one of the brands first off the mark with their tweeted ad of a Snickers bar with the copy, 'More satisfying than Italian. #LuisSuarez' and accompanying tweet: "Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you're hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS". TGI Fridays (@TGIFridays)was also up there with their tweet: "I think it's safe to say Uruguay was hungry for the win."

My best has to be from former champion boxer Evander Holyfield (@holyfield): "I guess any part of the body is up for eating." And what was even funnier, was the 'opinion' piece I saw somewhere from Mike Tyson, weighing in on why sports stars bite... I guess he would know!

For more biting humour from fans and brands: ABC News; The Week, UK; and the 10 best memes from the Evening Standard.

Okay, I'll bite my lip and stop with the puns already!

'Save' the USA

It's too late to save the USA in the World Cup, but their star player Tim Howard certainly tried, saving 15 goals in total. After the exit of the US team, the hashtag #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave started trending, as clearly, now that the US was out of the World Cup, most Americans probably turned their attention to other things... like the internet.

As the Huffington Post reported: "Nevertheless, the internet being the internet and Americans being Americans, #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave is, at the time of writing, trending."

Naturally, #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave included Suarez's dinner date from that infamous match, Italian soccer player, Giorgio Chiellini! Next up was the Titanic, Bambi, Dobby the elf from Harry Potter, some babies, Janet Jackson's 'nip slip'... and it just really deteriorated from there.

But good fun was had by all, I'm sure. Happy Friday laughs!