Over the past 25 years, memes have become one of the most dominant forms of not only comedy but communication online.
There’s nothing you can’t say with a meme, and they’re used by everyone from Gen Alpha all the way to boomers, even becoming a tool for politicians and brands in the modern day. What used to be a niche internet phenomenon has now transcended, with knowledge of memes becoming absolutely necessary to successfully decipher the social media landscape.
The history of memes is long, complicated and difficult to summarize, but here’s a very brief overview of how they’ve evolved over the past few decades, beginning with the meaning and origin behind the term itself.
What Is a Meme?
Defining a meme isn’t as easy as you might think. On the most basic, structural level, some might define memes as anything that spreads virally online. This is true, but only covers the online aspect of meme culture. In reality, the term “meme” is far more broad, encompassing just about anything that spreads through human interaction whether online or not.
The term “meme,” derived from the Greek word “mimema” meaning “something imitated,” was coined by evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which focuses on the importance of self-replication in natural selection.