The growth, spread, and mutation of internet phenomena: A study of memes

Lonnberg, Adam; Xiao, Pengcheng; Wolfinger, Kathryn

doi:10.1016/j.rinam.2020.100092

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In other words, never before has there been a quarantine with a digital interconnection that has allowed each stage of the pandemic to be graphically communicated. It is not in vain that that replication models, terms and concepts from global epidemics and pandemics are used 40,41 or that a meme is considered something going viral. What we are highlighting is the inauguration power that this agency capacity has had in the current pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The meme as a digital liberating singularity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: an informational approach

2022

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Unlike previous pandemics, the COVID-19 pandemic is unique in that, for the first time, social isolation is not isolation but a migration imperative. World 4.0, the digital society, has endowed people with a capacity for interconnectedness through using social networks for entertainment. In particular, stickers and memes, as founding grammars of discourses, narratives, ways of feeling, and imaginaries, can demonstrate, from an informational sociobiological approach, the phenomenon of memes in the COVID-19 pandemic. This article highlights the meme as a shock of laughter for the mind and body, becoming the phenomenon that has prevailed and strengthened throughout the pandemic. It proposes some reflections on the role of memes as a shock of personal enjoyment and reflection unveiling the contemporary social context. We present four moments of the memes during the pandemic, in the first the memes reflect the new emerging condition with subjectivities such as mockery, reduction, and denial. The second moment shows the unfathomable encounter between the person and the pandemic, where the panic in the meme turns into humour. The third moment shows the terror beginning to unravel. Here, the meme operates as a shocking power of laughter in epicconscious activity. In the fourth moment, the memes reflect the establishment of a new normal. The meme is already a vehicle for unexpected situations as a consequence of the pandemic phenomenon.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The meme as a digital liberating singularity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: an informational approach

2022

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“…However, in its development, "memes" are not only in the form of images. More specifically, according to Lonnberg et al (2020), more prevalent memes are used in cyberspace. No different according (Hussein & Aljamili, 2020;Lonnberg et al, 2020;Prakofjewa et al, 2020) describe images edited from fragments of videos and photos spread through the internet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More specifically, according to Lonnberg et al (2020), more prevalent memes are used in cyberspace. No different according (Hussein & Aljamili, 2020;Lonnberg et al, 2020;Prakofjewa et al, 2020) describe images edited from fragments of videos and photos spread through the internet. Memes contain humour, flashes, criticisms and expressions of ideas about current phenomena that are being hotly discussed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persuasive Communication Strategies To Reduce Student Anxiety About Infodemic Covid-19 Through Memes

2023

NMMC

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The rise of information about Covid-19, known as an infodemic in the mass media and social media, makes the audience face a new problem psychically, namely anxiety. The study aimed to describe the appeal of the visual message of Covid 19 memes by students on social media as a persuasive communication strategy. Then categorize the meaning of Covid-19 meme messages based on government policies packaged in educative, informative, entertaining and persuasive messages about Covid-19. This research uses a qualitative approach. Data collection techniques through in-depth observations and interviews. This research informant is a student who often accesses memes about Covid-19 and can give meaning to the Memes. The results showed that the information compiled in memes is the attraction first, the boredom of information in the mass media. In the form of news/text or video, the news is considered not to increase awareness but rather fear that causes anxiety psychically. Second, the message is persuasive. Meme visualization is more exciting, and the message is precise. Students prefer to look for parody information or funny nuances because the message is easy to accept and visually exciting and entertaining. The meaning of the Covid-19 Meme tends to be denotative. That is, students, understand the message conveyed both in the form of images and text with actual meaning.

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“…Thus, some researchers have conducted some studies related to memes. Beskow, Kumar and Carley (2020) and Lonnberg, Xiao and Wolfinger (2020) studied internet memes by analysing their growth and evolution from a political point of view and the reasons for their spread. Benaim (2018) did a study to analyse internet memes from an innovation study point of view.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The divorcee memes in the virtual field: Body discourse positioning as the object and enhancement of sexual image

2022

KJSS

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This article aimed to explore the positioning of divorcee status in divorcee memes. The divorcee meme template spread over the internet was used as the focus of the study. The researchers selected the divorcee memes in 2018, 2019, and 2020, totalling nine memes. The selection of divorcee memes was carried out on views representing the body's discourse as the dominant discourse. We examined the main discourse that develops in divorcee's memes relating to the body. By combining qualitative and quantitative analysis (n = 45 meme readers) based on Roland Barthes' theory, we examined the divorcee's position in the meme, the ideology attached to it, and the readers' views. Our findings showed the divorcee's position in the divorcee's meme as an object of gaze by using the body as the focus, thereby strengthening the stigma that divorcees are seductive women who always wait for men's presence. The entire divorcee meme showed the divorcee's position as a joke. However, from readers' responses, it can be concluded that the divorcee's meme is a myth that is built to perpetuate the negative stigma of divorcees. Finally, our findings suggest that internet users produce more critical and objective memes of empirical truth.

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The growth, spread, and mutation of internet phenomena: A study of memes

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

The meme as a digital liberating singularity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: an informational approach

The meme as a digital liberating singularity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: an informational approach

Persuasive Communication Strategies To Reduce Student Anxiety About Infodemic Covid-19 Through Memes

The divorcee memes in the virtual field: Body discourse positioning as the object and enhancement of sexual image

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