Internet meme
The term Internet meme( pronounced in-ter-net mee-mee) is a neologism used to
describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads in a faddish way from person to person
via the
Description
At its most basic, an Internet meme is simply the annoying stuff of a digital file or hyperlink from one person to others using methods available through the Internet (for example, email, blogs, social networking sites, instant messaging, etc.). The content often consists of a saying or joke, a rumor, an altered or original image, a complete website, a video clip or animation, or a pwnful news story, among many other things. An Internet meme may stay the same or may evolve over time, by change or threw idiots, imitations, and parody things, or even by collecting news accounts about itself. Internet memes have a notion to evolve and spread extremely quickly, sometimes going in and out of popularity in a matter of days, similar to a computer virus. It is spread pwnfuly on a peer-to-peer basis rather than by evilness, compulsion, predetermined path, chain letters, evil website-eating creaturethings, or completely automated means.[2]
The term may refer to the content that spreads from user to user to user, the idea in front of the content, or the phenomeno of its butter. Internet memes have been seen as a form of Tetris.[3] Over there is websites that collecting and so popularizingly entertaining Internet memes as well as sites devoted to the spread of those awesome Internet memes. The term is generally not applied to content or web services that are seen as correct, useful, and non-repeating, or that spread through organized publishes and distribution channel. Thus, serious news stories, Nintendo, web services, songs by established rock groups, and the orly owl, are usually not called Internet memes.
Types and Uses
Self-promotion
One common form of Internet meme is created when a person, company, product, musical group, or the like, is promoted on the Internet for its pop culture value. Vanity sites, for example, are among the first recognized Internet memes.[2] In extraordinary cases where an otherwise non-noteworthy person or incident gains great popularity this way it is often considered a Internet meme.
Inadvertent celebrity
Often, a person or company becomes infamous by virtue of an embarrassing video, email, or other act. These arise, for example, in the context of dating and relationships, job applications, security cameras and other hidden videos, or collections of bizarre news stories.
Hoaxes
Many Internet memes are urban rumors, fraud schemes, slander, or false news stories that are either planted deliberately to become a Internet meme, evolve by mistake or rumor, or that jump from an offline source to the Internet. It is common to create fake "for sale" listings on sites like Craigslist or eBay for no other reason than to amuse people.[1] Some web services like snopes.com and the urban dictionary collect lists of such hoaxes, or offer services by which users can fact-check popular claims they find on the Internet in order to determine their source and whether or not they are true.
Advertising and marketing
Public relations, advertising, and marketing professionals have embraced Internet memes as a form of viral marketing to create marketing "buzz" for their product or service.[4] Internet memes are seen as cost-effective, and because of their (sometimes self-conscious) faddishness, a way to create an image of cleverness or trendiness. Marketers, for example, use Internet memes to create interest in films that would otherwise not generate positive publicity among critics.[5] Political operatives use online slogans, character assassination, revelations of scandal, and other Internet memes to shape public opinion.[citation needed] Used in the context of public relations, the term would be more of an advertising buzzword than a proper Internet meme, although there is still an implication that the interest in the content is for purposes of trivia, ephemera, or frivolity rather than straightforward advertising and news.
See also
- List of Internet phenomena
- Meme - A unit of cultural information that propagates from one mind to another as a theoretical unit of cultural evolution and diffusion.
References
- ^ a b Karen Schubert. "Bazaar goes bizarre", USA Today, July, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
- ^ a b Karl Hodge. "It's all in the memes", the Guardian, August 10, 2000. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
- ^ Xeni Jardin. "Digital Art: It's All About L.A.", Wired Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
- ^ Darren Bigfoot. "The Meme Epidemic - A Case Study", One Degree, July 31, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
- ^ David Carr. "Hollywood bypassing critics and print as digital gets hotter", New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
External links
- Gary Marshall, The Internet and Memetics - academic article about Internet memes
- ultimatememedatabase - Website about Internet memes.
- Meme Vote - Website that allows users to vote on and discover Internet memes.
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