What is a meme & how does it work?

A meme is typically a photo or video, although sometimes it can be a block of text. When a meme resonates with many people, it's spread via social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, texting, and more. The more a meme is spread, the greater the cultural influence it has.

What is a “meme” in linguistics?

In Mr. Dawkins’s original conception, a “meme” was analogous to a “phoneme,” the smallest unit of sound in speech, or a “morpheme,” the smallest meaningful subunit of a word, Kirby Conrod, a professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, said.

What is the evolution of a meme?

Evolving from basic image edits made to make people laugh into rhetorical devices capable of disseminating information to millions of people, memes have established themselves as one of the most important mediums today. This is the evolution of the meme. What is a meme? The easier question is, what isn’t a meme?

What is a sibling meme?

Sibling memes are a popular meme subgroup that appeals to many people: Some memes have pointed humor. These memes put forth an opinion, argue with others, take a provocative stance, or use darker subjects, such as the above meme that takes advantage of an unfortunate headline.