In a survey¹ conducted as part of Yettel’s latest campaign, the company examines how Hungarians actually use the internet and what differences can be observed between generations. While leaving out a greeting is almost unthinkable in a traditional email, for example, it is less expected in chat conversations: nearly half of respondents know someone who gets straight to the point in online messages without saying hello first. This is particularly common among younger people, with two-thirds of those under 26 having experienced it. One reason for this may be that 46% of respondents are engaged in ongoing conversations with their contacts. By contrast, saying hello is particularly important to three-quarters of those aged 45–65, making the absence of a greeting a potential source of generational conflict.
According to media researcher Dr Ádám Guld, etiquette always adapts to the way people communicate in a given era: “Just as it once became natural to respond to a phone call or an email, rules have now emerged for chat-based communication, too. Interestingly, the survey also revealed an apparent contradiction: while young people increasingly consider it less important to start an online conversation with a greeting, they now expect people to respond to memes and regard this as a matter of politeness.”
Emojis, memes and GIFs – more than just funny content
Text messages and photos remain the foundation of online communication, while emojis, links and videos are also part of most people’s daily routines. Memes², stickers and GIFs are used primarily by generations Y and Z, especially those under 35.
“From their perspective, an emoji, GIF or meme can often convey a mood or reaction more quickly and accurately than several sentences. Although the study did not cover generation Alpha, international research suggests that this trend is likely to be even stronger among them. They are growing up in a digital environment where visual, multimodal communication is not an addition to text messages but the natural language of everyday online interaction. For them, memes are therefore more than just funny content: they are important tools for expressing a sense of belonging, shared cultural references and identity,” said Dr Ádám Guld.
However, voice messages are the most divisive form of online communication: only 45% of respondents send them, while more than a quarter never use them. According to the media researcher, voice messages are far more direct and personal than text messages, but they also require greater attention from the recipient. The recipient has to listen to the message, whereas written text can be scanned much more quickly, and specific information can be located more easily. “Research shows that it is precisely this duality – the personal nature of the voice and the greater time commitment required to receive the message – that makes voice messages a divisive communication tool across generations and situations. While older generations find voice messages a quicker and more natural way to express themselves, younger people are more likely to see them as a loss of control over the communication process.”
Copying or re-creation?
Sixty-five percent of respondents use memes in their conversations. Just over half agree that a visual element can sometimes say more than a sentence, while almost the same proportion frequently send pictures or videos without any accompanying explanation – a figure that rises to two-thirds among 18–26-year-olds. A quarter of respondents have someone they communicate with exclusively through this type of content. However, although this is not the case for the majority of those aged over 54. Half of respondents share memes without making any changes, but some take a more creative approach: one in five has created a meme of their own.
“Humour always draws social boundaries between those who understand it and those who don’t. In the case of memes, these boundaries are sometimes shaped by generations, sometimes by online communities, and at other times by shared media experiences. For generation Alpha, AI-generated content is increasingly becoming part of their everyday online environment. Having grown up in a digital ecosystem shaped by artificial intelligence, they are less concerned with whether a meme was created by a person or an algorithm. What matters far more to them is whether it is entertaining, easy to understand and worth sharing,” the media researcher added.
Yettel has also adapted its renewed postpaid portfolio to reflect these diverse usage habits. It offers updated plans, lower monthly fees for the first six months, and 5G access at no extra cost and without speed restrictions. Another new feature is that even non-unlimited plans now include four days of unlimited mobile data every month at no extra charge.
| About the survey: The memes included in the survey were selected with the help of experts. The aim was to include examples that best represent the diversity of Hungary’s online meme culture. Several factors were taken into account during the selection process, including each meme’s popularity, relevance, date of publication, and the extent to which it had become a cultural reference recognised by wider online communities. Another important consideration was that the survey deliberately excluded political memes. It therefore focused exclusively on non-political meme culture as it appears in everyday online communication. The memes were used solely to identify the subject of the study. This is the first publicly available nationwide representative survey of its kind in Hungary. |
[1]The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,027 respondents on the Instant Research platform between 24 and 27 July 2026. The sample is representative of Hungary’s internet-using population aged 18-65 by gender, age, settlement type and region.
[2]For the purposes of this study, a meme is defined as any online image, video or other content that users share with one another because of its humorous, ironic or cultural message.