How internet memes have become a staple of the internet and cultural interaction with economic, social, and political value.
An educated personal take from the blog of Ryan Rickard as of August 2020.
Memes are a key player in the world of information technologies with economic, social, and political insight even though their value is often overlooked. Memes are a perfect example of a main component of modern technologies that is networked individualism. Memes give individuals an opportunity to construct their individualization while connecting with other individuals to form community. This is often done through the expression of values and culture through meme content communication.
Economic value is brought to the network by memes through their ability to manipulate human time and attention. This utilization is sometimes referred to as attention economy. Tik Tok is a social media platform that creates many memes based on audio and video content. This platform provides many great attention meme examples as the content of memes over this medium often take more time and attention for the viewers to digest. On this social media website memes can become re-created rapidly with easy to use tools for users that allow for lip syncing and viral dance tutorials.
The social value of internet memes is the center of the re-creation and spread of memes. Often this sharing and developing comes from values expressed through a shared core idea then changed with many distinct and often creatively unique variations. The biggest takeaway from memes having social value is that they give a sense of communal belonging and give individuals a chance to connect with each other through an exposure to a meme’s expression. A great example of memes having social value are memes that are based around sports. Sports memes are often about specific teams or league events that allow fans to connect with each other beyond the contest itself.
Lastly, memes provide political value and insight through the expression of shared ideas relating to economic and social power. Groups of individuals with shared ideas may choose to create, share, and develop a meme in order to widespread a shared idea or agenda. Politically this could be performed through memes relating to political opinions and the diverse individuals with similar ideas sharing the memes. During the 2016 United States Presidential Election there were many memes surrounding the support and dissent of both presidential candidates which sparked internet discussion and debate. With the creation of memes being commonly accessible and enjoyable, memes have become a common place for individuals to voice political opinions and sentiments.
Memes have become a center-point for information technologies in the modern world as the internet and the networks found within it continue to expand. With the progressing of memes over time they are no longer relevant to one group of people as they have evolved to include many topics of content through multiple mediums. All ages of individuals from many communal backgrounds can now enjoy memes and their economic, social, and political value. As society progresses and informational technologies continue to develop and become more relevant than ever it will be interesting to see not only how the content and formats of memes change but how relevant they stay in the cultural landscape of human beings.
References Used in this Blog Post
Carles. (2011, December 07). Consuming Sports in Our Crowded Meme Economy. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://grantland.com/features/consuming-sports-our-crowded-meme-economy/
Graham, M., & Dutton, W. H. (Eds.). (2019). Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing Our Lives. Oxford University Press.
NFL Memes. (2020). NFL Memes. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.facebook.com/MEMES.of.the.NFL/
Phua, J., Jin, S., & Kim, J. (2017, February 20). Uses and gratifications of social networking sites for bridging and bonding social capital: A comparison of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563217301140
Taveira Lecturer in American Studies, R., & Balfour Honours Student, E. (2020, April 15). How Donald Trump won the 2016 meme wars. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://theconversation.com/how-donald-trump-won-the-2016-meme-wars-68580
Tik Tok. (2020). Make Your Day. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.tiktok.com/en/
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