Humor is a pretty big part of why we enjoy memes, but the real secret to their success is just how easy they can be made at scale. Their conciseness, typically a single static image or short looping video segment paired with a few lines of text, means that anyone who has a smartphone and an average photo- or video-editing app is able to create one within minutes.
You don't need professional design skills or expensive software; a basic download of a free template from the web or an in-app captioning tool can be used to turn a day's observation into something shareable. This low threshold turns every social media user into a potential producer of content, with an insatiable flow of fresh material.
Bandwidth helps do its part, too. In the era of second-by-second attention spans, and data caps as a real concern, memes load in less than half a second, even on the slow connections, while longer videos or lengthy posts have some latency and data usage. A JPEG or a short GIF flows through chat applications, email threads, and all the big social media without batting an eyelid.
That means nobody has to be made to pay for data or be involved in culture; a meme's small size makes it within anyone's grasp anywhere. A perfect example are those cartoon "reaction GIFs" ripped from large TV shows, Dwight Schrute's agitated scowl from The Office, or Homer Simpson's e*****y Homer-drool. They're all under 500 KB, yet carry enough emotional punch to accomplish the task of paragraphs of explanation.
Cultural access is equally vital. Memes rely on shared contexts, common emotions, shared experience, popular culture allusions, that are translinguistic and geographic. Even if they are translated or localized, the template image itself is recognizable. Employ the "Distracted Boyfriend" trope: a boyfriend looking at another woman as his girlfriend glowers, with captions making him "Me," the girlfriend "My responsibilities," and the other woman "That new video game."
Everyone who has ever been tempted by diversion gets it right away, no matter where they see it in Lisbon, Lagos, or Lahore. Similarly, the "Drake Hotline Bling" template, Drake's wave of dismissal for one option, Drake's thumbs-up approval for the other, is used in dozens of languages and hundreds of situations, from food preferences to complaints about working remotely.
Social sites themselves enable ease in making and sharing. Preloaded "reaction" or "respond with GIF" buttons, one-tap reposting, and meme generators inside the app enable users to share and respond to memes without ever leaving the application.
