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An Internet meme, or simply meme (, MEEM), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behaviour, or style) that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations. Characteristics of memes include their susceptibility to parody, their use of intertextuality, their propagation in a viral pattern, and their evolution over time. The name is from the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Mike Godwin coined the term Internet meme in 1993 when he discussed memes as spreading via messageboards, Usenet groups, and email. With the rise of social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, memes have become more diverse and can spread quickly. More recent genres include "dank" and surrealist memes, as well as short-form videos such as those uploaded on Vine and TikTok. Memes are considered an important part of Internet culture, and have become a developed research area. They appear in a range of contexts, such as marketing, economics, finance, politics, social movements, religion, and healthcare. Although some argue memes deserve fair use protection, use of media from pre-existing works can sometimes lead to issues with copyright. Characteristics Internet memes come from the original concept of memes as an element of culture passed on from person to person. On the Internet, this spread occurs through online mediums such as social media. Though the terms are related, Internet memes differ in that they are often short-lasting fads, while traditional memes have their success determined by longevity. Internet memes are also seen as less conceptually abstract compared to their traditional counterpart. There is no single format that memes must follow, and they can have various purposes. For example, they often serve as simply light entertainment, but can also be powerful tools for self-expression, connection, social influence, and political subversion. Two central attributes of Internet memes are creative reproduction and intertextuality. The former refers to the tendency of a popular meme to become subject to parody and imitation, which may occur by mimicry or remix. Mimicry refers to the reproduction of a meme in a different setting to the original (e.g., different people imitating the "Charlie Bit My Finger" viral video). Remix uses the original material of the meme but alters it in some way using technology-based manipulation (such as Photoshop). Intertextuality may be demonstrated through memes that combine different subjects or aspects of culture. For example, a meme may combine United States politician Mitt Romney's assertion of the phrase "binders full of women" from a 2012 US presidential debate with the Korean pop song "Gangnam Style" by overlaying the text "my binders full of women exploded" onto a frame from Psy's music video where paper blows around him. This gives new meaning to the scene from the music video and blends the political and cultural aspects of two different nations. Memes can involve in-jokes within online communities, which communicate exclusive cultural knowledge unbeknown to general users; through this, a collective group identity can be built. Other memes, in contrast, have broader cultural relevance and can be understood even by those outside the subculture one would associate with the meme. A study by Michele Knobel and Colin Lankshear explored three characteristics of successful memes identified by Richard Dawkins (fidelity, fecundity, and longevity) with Internet memes. It was found that the fidelity of internet memes was better understood as replicability, as memes, though preserving their essence, are often not transmitted entirely "intact" (due to remixing of some sort). Fecundity was postulated to be determined by three main characteristics: humour (e.g. the comically translated video game line "All your base are belong to us"), intertextuality (e.g. the various pop culture-referencing renditions of the Star Wars Kid viral video), and anomalous juxtaposition (e.g. the Bert is Evil phenomenon). Lastly, a meme's longevity was described as essential for a meme's ongoing transmission and evolution. Evolution and propagation Internet memes may stay the same or evolve over time. They can "mutate" in their meaning but maintain their structure, or vice versa, such mutation occurring by chance or by deliberate means such as parody. A study by Miltner explored the lolcats meme and its evolution over time from an in-joke within computer and gaming communities on 4chan to a source of emotional support and humour for a broader audience. The shift of the meme to mainstream use caused it to become unfashionable among the original creators. Miltner explained "as content passes through various communities, it is interpreted in new ways and takes on new connotations; these are usually specific to the needs and desires of that community, and quite often divorced from the original intent of the creator". Often, the modifications to a meme can turn it into a phenomenon that transgresses social and cultural boundaries. Memes propagate in a viral pattern, "infecting" individuals in a pattern reminiscent of the SIR model for spread of disease. Once a meme has been propagated to enough people, continued spread is inevitable. A study by Coscia reached a set of conclusions concerning the success of a meme's propagation and its longevity. It found that while Internet memes compete for viewer attention, resulting in shorter lifespan, they can also collaborate with each other to achieve greater survival. Also, paradoxically, a meme that experiences a popularity peak significantly higher than average is not expected to survive unless it is unique, whereas a meme with no such peak continues to be used with other memes and thus has greater survivability. Writing for The Washington Post in 2013, Dominic Basulto asserted that with the growth of the Internet and the exploitation of memes by the marketing and advertising industries, memes have come to lose their initial worth as valuable cultural snippets intended to last for generations, and transmit banal rather than intelligent ideas. History Origins and early memes The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene as an attempt to explain how aspects of culture replicate, mutate, and evolve (memetics). Emoticons are among the earliest examples of internet memes, specifically the smiley emoticon ":-)", introduced by Scott Fahlman in 1982. The concept of memes in an online context was formally proposed by Mike Godwin in the June 1993 issue of Wired. In 2013, Dawkins characterized an Internet meme as being a meme deliberately altered by human creativity—distinguished from biological genes and his own pre-Internet concept of a meme, which involved mutation by random change and spreading through accurate replication as in Darwinian selection..... Discover the Shelby Knobel popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Shelby Knobel books.