Rainbow Brite, Smurfs and Other Cartoon Characters Take Over Facebook

NEW YORK (CBS) Popular characters from the animated world are invading Facebook.

Like the last celebrity doppelganger craze, members of the massive social networking site are replacing their profile pictures with images from their favorite childhood cartoons.

Change your profile picture to your favorite cartoon from when you were a kid," it says on the note that is being passed around between friends. "The goal of this game is not to see a human picture on Facebook, but an invasion of childhood memories . PLAY AND PASS ALONG!

Based on trending Google searches , the new practice is picking up ground. Popular search terms include "cartoon characters from the 80s," "Rainbow Brite," "Smurfs," "Ren and Stimpy," "Rugrats, " and "Doug".

According to the note, the new Facebook meme has a charitable purpose.From now until December 7, change your profile picture to a cartoon character from your childhood. The objective of this is not to see any human faces on Facebook but an invasion of memories for the fight against Violence to Children. Remember we were kids too.

Annoying Orange to star in Cartoon Network series

Cartoon Network announced Thursday that it's bringing The Annoying Orange, an Internet hit, to its 2012 lineup as a half-hour series.

The Annoying Orange, in which a nasal-voiced, mouthy orange pesters an apple and other objects with puns and jokes, has drawn more than 850 million views on YouTube, according to Cartoon Network.

The TV series will follow Orange and his produce buddies as they travel through time in a magical fruit car, finding adventures along the way, the network said.

A debut date was not announced.The above  image released by Cartoon Network, a scene is shown from the web series, "The Annoying Orange." The popular Internet hit is coming to TV as a Cartoon Network series.