If you get online very often you may have noticed something. There are some people who get on it alot, and those people spread some crazy material over the net. These random things range from videos, pictures, sayings, ideas, to viral marketing.
Monorail Cat is a classic LoLCat.
These random things are Internet MEMES. An internet meme is basically a piece of information that is spread through the web. The first example that comes to mind is LoLcats. Lolcats are the magical art of posting a picture of a cat with a funny caption (misspelling is a bonus).
More than just images of peoples cats can be spread over the internet though. Ideas can also be passed around; For instance, did you know that Chuck Norris was born in a log cabin that he built himself? This is only one of the tidbits about Chuck Norris that have catapulted him to even greater fame. There is an entire website, http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/, devoted to these one liners. It may seem simple, but the spreading of these jokes have lead to a huge boost to Chuck Norris’s fame.
These humble beginnings of cat pictures and inside jokes have lead to a new type of meme. Marketers began to take notice of the number of views that these pictures and videos were getting. In response, they developed viral marketing. Viral marketing is the attempt to make a video promoting something become a meme. If 100,000 people are looking a silly cat, he might as well be drinking a coke. One successful example is the “Old Spice” guy.
This video has over 35 million views. That is 3 times the average viewership of American idol (11.8 milllion via the Nielsen ratings for week of sept 5). Factor in that people who watch it on Youtube actually seek out and pay attention to the video, and it’s clear to see how Old spice sales more than doubled after the online campaign.
This is just the tip of the Meme iceberg. Everything from Youtube, Reddit.com, to random forums are full of memes. If you want me to put up some more memes, or you know of any funny memes you want me to see post it in the comments.
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