To meme or not to meme: What you need to know
A meme is an image, video or piece of text, typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.
POLOKWANE – Memes (Mee:m) are life. Anybody who’s anybody knows that to survive in the digital era, memes are a must have to emphasize the point that you are taking across. In order to have a winning meme, one needs to take a few things into careful consideration, like current affairs and what people are interested in. Sometimes, in order to get the message across, one needs to be as blunt and sometimes controversial as possible.
A meme is an image, video or piece of text, typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations. It is basically somebody’s thoughts accompanied by photo to drive home the point that they are trying to make. Although usually humorous, memes are also used as a way for some people to express what they cannot say in words. The beauty is that they catch on fast and the funnier and more controversial, the more public interest they gain. But memes haven’t always been what we see them as.
The word ‘meme’ dates back to 1976 when evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins explained in his book, The Selfish Gene that cultural ideas were no different than genes.
Memes are concepts that had to spread themselves from brain to brain as quickly as they could, replicating and mutating as they went. He called those artifacts memes, bits of cultural DNA that encoded society’s shared experiences while also constantly evolving.
Today, memes are jokes that are passed on through social media, and they catch on like wildfire, thanks to the internet.
There are four main types of memes: dank, normie, edgy, and dark. According to knowyourmeme.com, “Dank Memes” are an ironic expression used to describe online viral media and in-jokes that are intentionally bizarre or have exhausted their comedic value to the point of being trite or cliché.
‘Normie’ is a derogatory label for an individual who is deemed to be boringly conventional or mainstream by those who identify themselves as nonconformists.
Edgy memes are provocative or avant-garde and are often used to describe things that are dark and gothic in nature. It is commonly used as an insult online.
There are many ways to make a meme using various meme creating tools. There are different tools like like Pixlr Editor or photoshop that you can use for making a photo meme but there are other meme generating sites that allow you to create your own meme using your own photo.
