We used to call it viral marketing – we said a blog post, a Twitter Tweet or a Digg went ‘viral’. With the upsurge of the meme, however, is viral gone for good?
According to whatis.techtarget.com, meme (pronounced ‘meem’) is:
A meme is an idea that is passed on from one human generation to another. It’s the cultural equivalent of a gene, the basic element of biological inheritance. The term was coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins speculated that human beings have an adaptive mechanism that other species don’t have. In addition to genetic inheritance with its possibilities and limitations, humans, said Dawkins, can pass their ideas from one generation to the next, allowing them to surmount challenges more flexibly and more quickly than through the longer process of genetic adaptation and selection.
Examples of memes might include the idea of God; the importance of the individual as opposed to group importance; the belief that the environment can to some extent be controlled; or that technologies can create an electronically interconnected world community.
Today, the word is sometimes used to describe ideas deemed to be of passing value. Dawkins himself described such short-lived ideas as memes that would have a short life in the meme pool. Meme is an abbreviated form of the Greek word “mimeme,” which means “something imitated.”
In internet speak, a meme is something that captures the public’s notice, and is passed laterally rather than in generational format.
The most renowned meme of 2009 was probably entertainer Kanye West’s hijacking of the stage during young country star Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV VMA awards.
According to one account:
Taylor was just beginning her acceptance speech when Kanye crashed the stage, snatching the microphone from a startled Swift and proclaiming his dissatisfaction.
“Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!”
Cameras cut away from the stage to pan over an astonished audience; Beyonce looked aghast and the crowd booed.
The moment quickly shot to meme status, as the video was played and replayed – but it didn’t stop there. Within hours spoofs were being don, with Kanye’s face superimposed over images dissing every famous person imaginable from the President of the United States to Einstein saying “I’m really happy for you, I’m gonna let you finish, but –”
The best meme of 2009, and the launch of a new era for ‘viral marketing’ – it brings back memories of teh old Burma Shave signs that became an American icon, and live on as a true meme with even shows today using signs on posts with scraps of verse culminating in a punch line for added effect.
Want to go viral? make a meme!
Tags: internet, meme, viral video