Types of Memes
What are Memes? Quite simply, they're pictures, videos, animations, text, and other forms of content that are shared by people on the internet. An Internet meme, also referred to simply a Meme, is any kind of concept, behavior, or style which is shared through the web, most commonly through online social networking sites, forums, and particularly for humorous purposes. Also, many memes can be spread from individual to individual through various forms of online communication, blogs, emails, and even news sources.
These can be as offensive or as politically incorrect as you choose, but there's no denying their power over the web. A great deal of the internet's content can be found through the use of these sorts of Memes, whether the subject matter is humor cultural information or even hate speech. The culture of jokes has permeated much of the web, and the trend continues to evolve. And just as social networks form the basis of networks of humans who share interests and common interests, so too do the different forms of content that have been coined through the use of Memes.
The main difference between a typical Meme and a typical Web Image is in the intent of the creator. A Meme typically is intended to make light of something, although often times they'll go as far as to poke fun at those they don't like, such as politicians, celebrities, or certain religions (although generally not Islam). On the other hand, an image is meant to express an idea or to mimic real life. There is often no underlying joke within an image, but rather it's purely an expression of whatever the creator wants to say.
As there have been many people on the internet trying to figure out how to decode all of this, there has been a lot of interest in finding out which of the current "most popular" Memes are the best source of Humor. One of the biggest clues that can be used to determine what type of Meme is the source of Humor for any given topic is the time period during which it was created. If a specific genre of Web Image creation developed a certain trend over a relatively short amount of time then there is a good chance that genre is probably the source of some of the most popular Funny Memes around. For example, if Something funny was really popular in the 1990s, then there is a good chance that a number of people are using that style of image today, and that it's actually a pretty good source of Humor.
Many people wonder what makes internet Memes popular. One of the biggest reasons why internet Memes are so popular is because they tend to be simple, but of course, not necessarily shallow. One of the biggest factors why a typical Meme will gain popularity is if it gets enough Retweets. The more people that repost a given piece, the more people think it's funny. There are many different types of Memes on the web, some of which get quite a bit of Internet traffic based on the subject matter involved. In fact, some of the most popular internet Memes have very little to do with the subject at hand, and may instead be about pop culture, fashion, or a variety of other things.
There are a couple major categories of popular internet Memes, and I'll give you a quick overview of them first. Ephemeral or "meme" content tends to be one of the more popular categories, because it's relatively easy to create and can be updated often. Generally, an Ephemeral meme is one that doesn't have a particular, identifiable theme and is therefore just kind of funny (and often offensive). One of the most popular Ephemeral Emotions is the "grammar bubble" which is nothing more than an ongoing joke on college and professional English grammar usage. The "grammar bubble" started when a high ranking Harvard professor caused outrage by publicly outing a student who'd written a racist comment on his blog.
The next main type of internet user with a lot of exposure to "internet Memes" is the Selfish Gene, which are very funny in its own right, but has ties to the topic of Memes in particular. The Selfish Gene is a book written by evolutionary psychologists Robert Baran and Kevin Dutton. The book talks about how humans use language to compete for social standing, and thus gain an advantage over other individuals. It also talks about the idea that humans use language to communicate about feelings, and that some emotions are actually better than others. That all ties into the subject of the Selfish Genes, where the authors argue that certain traits are necessary for survival, and are in fact, needed for human happiness. One of the chapters focuses on the Selfish Gene and explains various ways in which the gene can be utilized, and illustrates these examples with a lot of different, and often offensive, examples.
There are many other categories of online Memes, ranging from ones that focus on extremely popular celebrities, to ones that poke fun at current events and popular trends. There are even schools of thought which attempt to teach students how to create and distribute Memes, and the list goes on. The interesting thing is that these endless meme compilation websites continue to grow and develop, as new trends arise, as well as old trends die out. This means there's always something to enjoy.