WTF Is a Meme?

Morning Memers!

You think memes started on the internet, don’t you!

Nope.

Think again, love child.

This is the world’s first meme:

1919…

And it uses the exact same format we use today.

Expectation vs. Reality: 

But these hundred years of memeage begs the question... what even IS a meme??

Well, it was invented by this dude:

British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. 

Inside that book he’s holding right there, he coins the term:

But this was 1976. 

So Dawkins is talking about things going viral in the evolutionary sense, not the internet sense.

Stuff like technology:

And clothing:

But nobody calls these "memes" yet...

Untilllll 1996.

People start emailing this creepy thing:

The Oogachacka Baby.

Or click this (sound on):

Banger. 

The number one web fad from 1997. 

The Hamster Dance

An internet meme!

Which is hilarious because the word "meme" itself has become... a meme!

Spreading, evolving, and taking on a life completely different from the memes Dawkins was talking about.

Pretty stupid..

BUT, speaking of things spreading in ways you don’t expect..

If you’re a business owner, creator, or marketer looking for viral marketing ideas that actually DO spread, you need to check out marketingideas.com.

They send you the most beautiful, bite-sized once-per-week marketing tactics from the world’s most successful startups, like:

Or: 

Making memes and marketing is really hard… Do the easy thing and sign up at marketingideas.com

Stay Cute,

Henry & Dylan 🌈

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