Social media users amazed to discover man in nodding meme is Robert Redford

It was a day of minor revelations for many social media users as they discovered that the man featured in one of the internet’s favourite gifs is Oscar winner Robert Redford.

The gif, which shows a heavily bearded man nodding, is often used on Twitter by users wishing to show approval for something.

But many were unaware of the origin of the clip, which comes from a 1972 Western called Jeremiah Johnson featuring Redford as the titular mountain man.

One such person was journalist Nick Martin, who was so startled by the revelation that he wrote an article about it for website Splinter.

In it, he said: “I have seen a ton of Redford’s films, and I have seen this meme a million times, but until today I just thought this was some pleasant lumberjack rando. But nope! This blew my mind; I’m sure yours is likewise dripping out of your ear right now.”

And Twitter users seemed equally shocked.

Many had thought the guy in the meme was Hangover star Zach Galifianakis.

Some users were amazed that so many people were not already aware that the gif featured Redford.

The revelation has done the rounds on social media several times before.

But not everyone took the news 100% seriously.