Reading the title, you must be thinking what really memes are. Of course, we are talking about internet memes which are really "IN" these days. Memes are actually concepts in a form of links, images, phrase, fashion, sites or videos which is spread through the internet. It is anything that is shared online. Commonly, it is quickly spread via blogs and social networking sites.
The most obvious example for a meme to spread quickly includes posting some photos to someone's Facebook wall or sending via emails. One of the most popular memes today is the comic-like images which are mostly funny. These kinds of memes are easily spread because it is easily understood. What's more, both the picture and the text are funny. While I am telling you this, I know you already have memes in mind especially the ones that are really popular.
Internet marketers have used memes for viral marketing and still using it today through social media marketing. Memes are easily digested than writing a long article. Memes are brief and get people's attention quite easily.
There are millions and millions of memes in people's mind. On the other hand, only the best memes are remembered and are spread quickly. Most of these popular memes are even left on other people's minds and shared again and again. And memes that are not good enough easily fade away. We cannot actually imagine the number of memes that were not recognized.
I could actually compare memes to chain letters since it goes from one to person to another and in just a few minutes you don't know how many have shared them online. It is true that memes are a form Art. It is used to promote stuff, to market things or only to be funny. Memes are evolving and we do not know if they are here to stay.
Just like all the other things, we all have stories about where we come from. Meme, as a word, was said to be originated from Richard Dawkin's book to describe a piece of culture that replicates.. He talked about the significance in explaining the human behavior as well as the cultural evolution. From that time on, memes have evolved naturally and many have said the evolution of memes is really a phenomenon.
Memes have now become popular and people of the new generation use these many times. Many mispronounce meme as "me-me". However, it is actually pronounced as "meem". Funny texts, videos and images are now virally spreading through the internet and it is still growing. As social media sites become better and better and as the number of users are increasing, memes are also spread even faster.
Do you have a Facebook account or Twitter account? If yes, look at the news feed, it is full of every sorts of memes that you could imagine. Try to look at your Facebook wall and you will see some images or phrases with most likes. That only means that those statuses with more like and shares are the most intriguing or interesting. Same thing with twitter, a tweet is retweeted many times and sometimes other users even mark your tweets as favorite.
With regards to Internet memes, it is unclear to where it really came from or what was the first internet meme that came out? However, we must all have seen a Baby Dancing which really became viral. Was it the first meme that came out? For me, Internet memes are just like the memes which Dawkins have talked about. The only thing, I think is different is that internet memes are the evolved version. Until now, there are still people out there discussing the history of memes and some are still even asking "what are memes?".
