What Do You Meme?

What is a Meme?

Memes are ideas that replicate from brain to brain, person to person. They are contagious messages capable of shifting human behavior to the tune of thousands, even millions, especially now, in the social media era.

The word "meme" comes from the Greek for "that which is imitated" and shares a root with the Greek Goddess of memory Mnemonsyne, the mother of the nine Muses.

"Mnemosyne" (1881) by Dante Gabrielle Rossetti

David Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene coined the term "meme" in 1976. A more recent version is Internet Meme, which spans the domain of viral videos, emails, articles and messages which have traveled through the Web. The Dipity site provides real time tracking of cultural Internet Memes.

What remains a mystery is why some memes replicate quickly, why others are slow to catch on, but have staying power nonetheless and why others prove contagious with smaller groups and communities.

The human brain contains "mirror neurons," part of our primal design to imitate, to copy ideas. The arrival of web 2.0 software marked a turning point in technology facilitating this aspect of human nature. Social media allows us to replicate memes faster than the speed of lightning.

 
Susan Blackmore explains the nature of memes in a TedTalks from 2008. She is the author of the 2000 book, The Meme Machine.