Once upon a time, an evolutionary biologist named Richard Dawkins created the word “meme” in his book titled “The Selfish Gene”.
It almost sounds not true… One might say it’s inconceivable….
In today’s world, a meme usually means a funny picture or a viral video you share to your friends. But before the internet existed, the word meme meant “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”.
With memes that existed pre-internet, how can people view and laugh at the wonders of these said memes? Well, they were in print of course, and painted on walls…
One notable pre-internet meme was “Kilroy was here”. An image or ‘doodle’ that has been passed around and graffitied as early as World War II. Its origins are still unknown to this day…
Other IRL (In Real Life) memes that spread among the people include: Frodo Lives, Andre The Giant Has A Posse and even the OBEY poster was considered a meme in its time. This famous image started surfacing around the 1980’s and was created by artist Shepard Fairey.
But then, like a surge of Lolcats that flooded your inbox, the internet was born and graced us with its presence.
And quickly thereafter, memes have been created and shared like wildfire…
And with the rise of the modern age, modern memes rapidly evolved into the internet memes we know and love today.
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One of the first known internet memes surfaced around 1996 and was called ‘The Dancing Baby’. The meme was essentially a 3D rendered baby dancing to the song “Hooked On A Feeling” by Blue Suede. It was the earliest known meme to become globally popular via e-mail chains.
No longer were memes classified as an “inside joke” among the internet users of 4chan and Reddit, it has now stepped into popular culture and has spread into the real world.
Let us now walk through internet memory lane as we reminisce on the early memes that made us laugh and kind of cringe…
I Can Haz Cheezburger?
Rickroll – The music video that started a troll phenomenon
All Your Base Are Belong To Us… A classic in meme history
Numa Numa – A meme that gained worldwide popularity
Numa Numa – A meme that gained worldwide popularity
Double Rainbow
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
It was a glorious time when people thought rickrolling was funny and original… But memes are an ever evolving phenomena and we are constantly inundated with newer and funnier memes. Let us now go through some of the newer memes that are all the rage with the ‘hip’ kids of today…
Pepe The Frog… No matter if he’s smug or sad, he will always be Pepe
Feels
Shia
And of course the internet’s national animal… The Doge
There is so much more to memes than we have shared. Memes have only been around for a short time but has a such a rich history to it, that is what makes memes so awesome and still relevant to this day. Memes captivate our lives and makes the internet a happy and laughter filled place with cute cats and even cuter dogs. So what are you waiting for? Go join in on the fun of creating and sharing memes for all to enjoy.
Interested in making your own memes for your business?
Want to try and use memes to gain attention and attract followers? For a lover of memes such as myself, I would advise you to follow a few steps to ensure you get the best possible outcome when it comes to using memes for your business:
Do Your Research – Be sure to do some research beforehand. Familiarise yourself with memes and study up on them; the important thing is to make sure you understand the joke.
Be Relatable – Do some research on your audience. Find out what your audience likes and their demographic.
Be Genuine – It has to be authentic and real for a meme to attract attention. If not, your audience will see right through you.
Find A Sense Of Humour – Memes are supposed to be enjoyable and they’re original purpose is to be funny. So have fun making them!
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