What is a Meme ?

What is a meme? A memes is a virally transmitted photo adorned with text poking fun at a cultural symbol or social idea.

The majority of modern memes are photos with captions meant to be funny, often as a way to poke fun at human behavior. Other memes can be videos and verbal expressions. Some memes have a more serious and philosophical content.

The world of memes (which rhymes with ‘team’) deserves attention for two reasons: it is a worldwide social phenomenon, and memes act like contagious flu viruses and cold viruses, traveling from person to person quickly through social media.

According to Cecil Adams of StraightDope.com, the concept of memes is “really deep or very real.”

Examples of Humorous Memes

• TMIMITW (world’s most interesting man): From the Dos Equis beer ad.
• Leonardo Dicaprio: The famous shot from The Great Gatsby of toasting, well, almost everything.
• Lolcats: A creation of pet lovers.
• Tell Me More: Gene Wilder’s comic slyly mocks people’s knowledge
• Hey Girl: A take on the potential of actor Ryan Gosling who is the perfect girlfriend – sometimes he says “Thank you” sometimes he just tells what day of the week it is.

Examples of Meme Shock

Some internet memes are also about shock value and drama:

Examples of City Myth Memes

Another meme is an urban myth that teaches life lessons:

Examples of Social Memes

Some internet memes with deeper philosophical content or social commentary:

Examples of Conversational Memes

In some cases, memes gain notoriety as conversational expressions:

Who Uses Memes?

The majority of internet memes are transmitted by 20-something millennials. This is because the age group is hyperlinked and loves social media. The average age of meme users is increasing, as Generation X and Baby Boomer users find it fun to spread memes around.

Who Invented Memes?

Word memes first introduced by evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, in 1976. Memes comes from the Greek word memes (meaning “something imitated”, American Heritage Dictionary).

Dawkins describes memes as a form of cultural transmission, which is a way of transmitting social memories and cultural ideas to each other. Not unlike the way DNA and life will spread from location to location, meme ideas will also travel from mind to mind.

How Memes Got Popular

The Internet, by virtue of instant communication, we now distribute modern memes to each other’s inboxes. A link to Rick Astley’s YouTube video, a file attachment with the movie Stars Wars Kid, an email signature with a Chuck Norris quote – these are some examples of symbols of modern memes and culture spread through online media. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, of course, continue to lead the pack for instantly viral memes.

The majority of internet memes will continue to be humor and curiosity, as this grabs people’s attention faster than the deeper content of the meme. But as users become more sophisticated in their thinking, expect memes to become more intellectual and philosophical when referencing less sophisticated pop culture icons such as Spongebob. On second thought…