The Evolution of Memes
Introduction
Let me start with the most un-original question, what is a meme? Rather what qualifies as a meme? Can a text be a meme? Or it has to be an image? Or it’s a combination of both? The answer is YES. Get it? I just used a meme..never mind! The idea is that anything that is able to incite a funny relatedness to a situation or a context could classify as a meme. If enough amount of people share the reaction to a particular graphic or a text, in a funny way, and are able to relate to it, then it’s a meme.
Memes have become such integral part of the human communication system today that it feels so natural and obvious. The obvious question now is, how did it come to be? When precisely did memes become a part of your day to day life and culture? The development of memes can largely be classified in 3 parts. Let’s have a look at them.
1. Genesis of Memes (<2009)
This was the time when social media was just introduced to the human lifestyle. Memes during this time were very simplistic and normal (as compared to the ones now-a-days). It was the birth of the meme content where people would share videos of their pet, or just change the spelling of the word and call it funny (this happens now as well). Memes during this time mere more personal and communicated between friends only and were usually not put out there for the entire world to see, given that YouTube, Twitter were in a very nascent stage at that point.
2. Development Era (2010–2015)
Memes during this time started to globalize. People were making memes not merely for the sake of conversations but also to put it out there for everyone to see. Unlike the Beginning memes, during this time, memes actually incited creativity and people started to make their own memes of the same template.
Memes were taking a form of being the next big wave of human communication and interaction. Instead of replying with a sentence people started replying with memes and expressed their emotion with memes. This era forms the very basic foundation of what memes are right now.
3. The Modern Era (2016 — Present)
With the memes getting more and more globalized and crossing the national and cultural boundaries, the vastness in the type and context of memes were seen. Memes were no longer limited to something that should recognised by most. Rather they started to become part of a cult. It was this time, that there was a high chance that you might not understand a meme that has other people laughing and coughing bananas.
Memes in this era are more factual representation of modern art and cult. They have expanded so much that now there are more platforms for you to make memes than there are memes. Its now a full profit-making industry. Question is, how long will this era last?
Conclusion
The way memes have evolved explains a lot about our development in digital communication. From being extremely personalized to global to being personalized again, but this time personalized to a cult or a group of people who share the same thinking and interests. The real question is where is it headed next? Can we trace our online communication patterns with memes? Are memes framing our online communication habits and patterns or is it the other way around?
Would love to read what you think about this in the comment section. Till then, keep creating!