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Basics: What’s A Meme?

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You can’t go through a day on the internet without coming across at least one meme. A meme (pronounced /mēm/) is an image or video shared online which conveys a popular cultural or well-known idea, behavior, symbol or concept imitating an aspect of history and/or real life.

dos-equis-meme_custom-1b9aee77416a2ac82498c4358db1d22a65abe441-s6-c30Meme is shortened from the Greek word mimeme (pronounced /mīmēma/) which means “imitated thing”. (Ref: WikiPedia). Memes are most prevalent within social media sites like Facebook, Tumbler, Redit, etc. A new field of study arose in the 1990’s to study the concepts and evolution of memes which is called Memetics. Most people enjoy finding and sharing memes about a subject which is important to them, or poignantly fits a particular conversation or context. Humorous memes tend to be my favorite.

The life of a meme can go something like this:

  • Meme creator captures a picture off the internet and adds text or edits the picture to conform to the idea they want to convey. (Willy Wonka, Dos Equis man and cat memes are some of the most popular in social media).
  • The meme is shared on one or more forms of social media with the “friends” of the meme creator. The goal is to get the meme to be liked and shared by friends and others, to spread the meme throughout groups, social media and the internet.
  • Memes can cross over into any form of media and become very popular. Or a meme can die off, never to become popular, liked or shared by anyone.

Some of the hottest memes are political in nature, or have a double meaning. The subject of cats has been hot on the internet since the early 1990’s.

Memes often mutate from the original and can have a detrimental personal or cultural message to them. Favorite quotes, lyrics and catch phrases have been used to produce some of the most popular memes. Star Wars, Star Trek and Princess Bride memes are created new every day, with no end in sight.

If you want to find some of the best memes ever on the internet, check out the links provided. You will find a meme that fits your interests and sense of humor. Please note: you will find some inappropriate images / memes in any one of the links provided. No offense intended.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/popular
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/weirdwebculture/tp/The-Best-Internet-Memes.htm http://www.policymic.com/articles/11844/what-is-a-meme-and-what-are-the-50-most-popular-memesonline

Cathy Brown Mort
Project Manager