Has your Twitter feed and Facebook News Feed been crowded with odd, mysterious messages that resemble a one-way conversation? Don’t worry, you aren’t going crazy.
A new viral trend, called the Number Game, is likely behind the seemingly random updates. The game is a big hit on Twitter, though it started on Facebook, where there are pages dedicated to the game.
(Check out this week’s other big viral trend.)
It works like this: Person A sends a direct message (DM) or a Facebook message to Person B, which contains a random number. Then Person B updates their status or tweets a message that contains the number Person A messaged them along with their honest opinion of Person A.
(More on TIME.com: “The Internet’s Short Attention Span”)
While most of the messages NewsFeed has seen have been sweet and flattering, there have been a few nasty ones. Which is where NewsFeed suspects the apparent fun lies. Basically, it’s a way to publicly air your opinion of someone without anyone knowing exactly who you’re referring to–except of course, the person who sent you the number.
