Internet memes is a very interesting topic and have been around since the late 90’s. “Web citizens use the term in its loosest form meaning an "Internet phenomenon" where something-an idea, art, person, joke, even advertising-goes from unknown to extremely popular very quickly” (Bulik and Kerwin, 2006). The video service web site called Youtube allows for it’s users to post their own videos. Once the video is posted anyone who has an internet connection will be able to view it. With this widespread access a single video could be viewed thousands of times in a very short instant. This allows for these memes to be created very quickly and then bleed through to other parts of our culture; outside of the internet.
50 Internet Memes in 100 Seconds:
I am fascinated how videos on Youtube can become an overnight hit. Something else that interests me is how Youtube has almost its own culture. If you are not apart of this culture you may not understand references made in videos or references made by your friends in every day conversation. If I were to do a study on Internet Memes I would hope to figure out how Youtube makes it easier to spread these Internet memes. In addition, I would like to find out to what extent Youtube Internet Memes penetrates our everyday lives outside of the internet. What I expect to find out is that Youtube is not the main contributor to the spread of Internet Memes. It is a place for these memes to be created and hosted but the real place where they spread happens on social networking sites. When I look further into Youtube culture I expect to find that it does exist. Also, I think I will find that the members that are the most deeply entrenched into this Youtube culture are the ones that first start the spread of the videos before they become Memes. When looking at how these memes affect parts of our lives that are not connected to the internet I think we will find it in advertising or places where they are looking for profit.
