photo courtesy of Sudamshu
meme n. (to rhyme with theme)
- an idea, belief or belief system, or pattern of behavior that spreads throughout a culture either vertically by cultural inheritance (as by parents to children) or horizontally by cultural acquisition (as by peers, information media, and entertainment media)
- in blogspeak, an idea that is spread from blog to blog
No I haven’t gone all geeky on you, anybody who spends a significant amount of time blogging will eventually run into a meme. But what is a meme and why should you care?
A Brief History of The Meme
Before we can answer those questions we need to take a look at the history of the word. Contrary to popular belief it’s not a term wholly related to blogging. It’s gained a lot of attention because of the blogosphere but it existed long before Tim Berners Lee even conceived of the notion of a World Wide Web.
The man credited for its invention is one Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist who studied the “spreading of ideas and beliefs”. Those ideas and beliefs could literally be anything from fashion to religion, politics to technology, art to catch-phrases.
So what’s all this got to do with blogging?
Playing With Guns
If a meme was a bullet then the Internet is the high-calibre rifle it’s fired from. Just like shooting is considered by many to be a sport, memes can be just as fun. As with guns however, you want to be sure you don’t shoot yourself in the foot.
The Pros of Internet Memes
- Great for networking – When used the right way, a meme is a way of connecting with other bloggers. It’s a wonderful way to start a conversation.
- Extremely viral nature – Heard the term “epic fail”, “Leeroy Jenkins” or “All your base are belong to us”? How about the acronym LOL? These are all memes that have spread like a virus throughout the Internet. There’s a reason why Internet Marketers will bust a gut trying to market something virally…
The Cons of Internet Memes
- Abused – rumours, hoaxes, fake headlines, they’re all memes.
- Useless Fads - The term meme is becoming synonymous with useless, fad-like phenomena such as Rickroll’ing and “all your base are belong to us”. Yet Blog Action Day, an incredibly beneficial idea, doesn’t get labelled as a meme despite technically being one.
- Repetitive and annoying – Rickroll, leet speak, lolcats. Need I say more?
To Meme or Not to Meme
When it comes to blogging, memes usually take the form of a question or statement posed by a blogger who then calls upon other bloggers, usually within his or her network, to answer. One such example and one I’ve recently been tagged with is “7 Facts About Me“.
As I said, it’s a great way of connecting with others in the blogosphere but there are some who don’t do memes. They prefer other methods of networking and may even consider memes to be a form of link-bait or a vain attempt at self-promotion.
So do you meme? What do you like about them? Perhaps you hate them, if so why? I’m really interested in hearing your thoughts.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, Marc. I learned a lot.
I’m ashamed to say I only learned what a meme was in the blogging context last week when Sean wrote about them! Until then, I’d only heard of memes & genes in the context of the coach training I’d done on the subject of overwhelm.
Want to know something else to make you really appreciate how savvy you are at all this internet wizardry? I only learned (the hard way – I did an accidental one) what a ping was at the weekend too… I am SO behind! My daughter laughs because I even use full spelling and punctuation in text messages.
I’m the same when it comes to text messaging. People may ridicule me for it but I point out that I can write a text message just as quickly if not quicker than some who rely on “leet speak”
I wouldn’t say you’re behind Janice. You just started after the rest of us just as others will start after you. As long as you understand the techno-jargon and take from it what you want you’re not really “behind”.
Besides this is not a race.
Now I’m off to check out your new blog!
That was a terrific post on memes, Marc. High caliber indeed. : > )
Sean’s last blog post..Meet Cindy, My Wife
Thanks Sean. I’ll get around to actually answering your meme on Friday. As I was writing it I felt it deserved to stand on its own.
I’m afraid it often feels like I’m being left behind, not by people, but by technologyy and social media as they streak forward. I’d barely got my head around the concept of blogsite v. blog + static website when, bam, My Space, Twitter and all the others took off. I think about Twitter and my head explodes, but I know I’ll need to start studying it soon. I feel I need a breathing space before the next big thing! I seem to have to spend more time studying than actually blog-building or even writing! Forgive me, I’m just exhausted and showing my age!
Good timing Marc! I’m sitting here writing out a Meme post on “Seven Strange Facts About Me”! LOL! (no pun intended)
I didn’t realise the full extent of the meme. I’ve been tagged several times for many different fact style memes, and Facebook memes *rolls eyes*
I like most of them because it’s a way of connecting with your audience and becoming more of a real person. The person, the character, behind the posts and behind the business. No longer do we hide behind corporate websites, blogging brings out the personality of the person behind it all and makes them more human. Memes are a good way to do that without it being an egotistical “let me tell you about me” post.
I’m another who uses full spelling and punctuation on text messages. Although it is helped by the fact that I have an application on my laptop so I can type it and send it from my phone number. I really dislike sms speak!
Looking forward to reading your meme!
Melinda’s last blog post..Business Practices that Make you Look Bad
@Janice – You’re not the only one being left behind by technology. The entire human race is and that scares me.
@Mel – Agreed. The beauty of a well crafted meme opens up the blogger in a way no “self-promotional” post could ever do.
Now if only more corporate blogs would follow your lead.
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