What is an Internet meme?

[Anamika Hubi]

Hello

In its most basic form, an Internet meme is simply an idea that is propagated through the World Wide Web. This idea may take the form of a hyperlink, video, picture, website, hashtag, or even just a word or phrase. This meme may spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, news sources, and other web-based services usually becoming viral.

An Internet meme may stay the same or may evolve over time, by chance or through commentary, imitations, parody, or even by collecting news accounts about itself. Internet memes can evolve and spread extremely rapidly, sometimes reaching world-wide popularity and vanishing all in a few days. They are spread organically, voluntarily, and peer-to-peer, rather than by predetermined or automated means.

Their rapid growth and impact has caught the attention of both researchers and industry.[3] Academically, researchers model how they evolve and predict which memes will survive and spread throughout the Web. Commercially, they are now actively used in viral marketing, seen as a free form of mass advertising. The Internet community itself has cultivated methods to encourage the generation and popularization of successful memes


hope it helps
Anamika