What the Hell is...Meme?

October 24, 2008 12:00 AM

A meme is a concept or behavior that spreads via learning or imitation. That idea isn't rigid, but instead changes and is adapted to the new context in which it is being used. A meme can be as diverse as a bit of technology or a piece of advice; it's essentially anything that can be adopted by other people. The easier it is to adapt, the sooner the meme becomes part of the cultural zeitgeist.

With the rapid spread of ideas on the Internet, memes have exploded online. An Internet meme starts with a song or catchphrase, for example, that is spread virally. Bloggers often add their own spin or humor to the original idea and that sparks even more discussion. One of the most popular Internet memes is LOLCats, where cat photos are paired with grammatically incorrect captions. If you want to track Internet memes, you can use a service like GoogleTrends to look at a concept's popularity through search engine results.

Marketers have tried to take advantage of memes, which are essentially viral campaigns. The challenge is to discover what makes one meme successful, while another languishes.

Origin : Researcher Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" in his 1976 work, The Selfish Gene, as a "unit of cultural transmission." He used it to describe how evolution could account for the proliferation of religious ideas or building techniques.

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