The term meme was first coined back in 1976. The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins came up with it after joining the Greek word mimēma (meaning “imitated”) and the English gene. He presented the new term in his book “The Selfish Gene” likely without realizing how widespread it will become.
In his bestseller, Dawkins described memes as the cultural equivalent of a gene—it is transmitted from person to person, carries information, and mutates along the way. Much like our beloved online memes, when they’re launched into the void of the internet and start a snowball effect of generating different versions.
Some state that the first internet meme was the Baby Cha-Cha-Cha (also referred to as the Dancing Baby) that appeared online in the mid-nineties. Others argue that the old-school smiley face—:)— could be considered a meme, thus preceding the newborn doing the cha-cha.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter which was first. What matters is that meme culture has been growing ever since and is now a pretty significant part of our online existence. Some statistics claim that on Instagram alone, people share around a million memes every day.
Bored Panda discussed the topic of memes with the creator of Meow Incorporated, Julius. When asked what was the driving force behind the page, he shared: “In 2016, I entered the Dog (or doggo) and cat (catto) meme world to share my love for animals, but specifically dogs, with the world.”
He wanted to do it in a way that integrated cute critter pictures, videos, and humor, so he added captions to show what the animals were supposedly thinking and saying. “The captions are in doggo speak for dogs and catto talk for cats since the terms reflect their personalities and how I imagine they would actually talk,” Julius added.
Memes arguably mean more to millennials and Gen Z than to any other generation so far. According to Ypulse, more than half (55%) of those aged 13-35 send memes weekly, and 30% actually do that daily. It’s not surprising, considering that an average millennial sees around 20-30 memes every day.
As stated in Ypulse, the main reason for such distribution is to make other people smile, based on the answer of 74% of those surveyed. 53% say they send it to react to something, while 28% admit to using it when they can’t express their feelings with words. This shows that people nowadays use memes not only as a source of entertainment, but as a form of communication as well.
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Julius from Meow Incorporated expanded on his views of the impact memes have on our daily lives: “Memes are silly, ironic, shocking, culture showing/changing, and everything in between. Since their beginnings, they have provided ways for us to connect with friends, family, and people we care about by creatively and humorously reflecting back on the world we live in. They can help us deal with shared hardships, make twists on things we already appreciate, and surprise us with creativity.”
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Julius also shared why he thinks pets often find themselves being the subject of yet another meme. He stated: “We love our pets, adore their cuteness, and could watch them all day long because they are undeniably funny. I think all their adorable antics and the hilarious situations they get themselves (and us) into are a perfect source for memes because their range of emotions and expressions allow us to humanize them.”
Some more interesting data suggests that memes are getting increasingly popular in the business world as well. According to Amra & Elma, the click-through rate of a meme campaign is 14% higher than email marketing. In addition to that, the majority of surveyed people (60%) say using memes in certain marketing campaigns encourages them to buy from the company.
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The success of a meme, whether it is used in a marketing campaign or a chat room, often depends on how relatable it is. The mastermind behind Meow Incorporated emphasized it as one of the main ingredients as well: “One necessary piece of a good meme is relatability. As a viewer, being able to see ourselves in the meme is a huge ingredient; for example memes about common human experiences ring true because we can all relate to them,” he explains.