10 Years Of Memes And Meme Culture

Meme culture has infinitely evolved for the better on social media platforms over the years thanks to our (read millennials) forever increasing devotion to such platforms which in return has led to a greater shared sense of meaning among internet users our age. (For CMNS 353)

Memes are now intrinsic to our social media lives. Everywhere we look there are memes expressing moods or gifs that we can totally relate to. But of course, it was not always like this. I've travelled back 10 years in meme history so you don't have to and seen the worst and best the internet had to offer. Memes have a painful dull beginning and the road to dank memes has been a bumpy one, but that's why I'm here; to educate you on why we should be more grateful for A1 memes.

Giphy / Via media.giphy.com

2008 and so it begins

Know Your Meme / Via knowyourmeme.com

Imagine 10 years ago (2008 - even if it doesn't feel that way) when we all thought we were the coolest people on the planet for sharing funny pictures on Facebook with all 102 of our friends. I say "funny picture" because I can't remember the word "meme" ever coming up. These were more just pictures with various and sometimes very lengthy captions in the same bold white font that made the pictures they were attached to relevant. This may no longer be funny and, dare I say, seem primal but it was a start. Memes like this created the base for a global culture of shared meaning where fewer words were needed.

2009 and memes continue to grow in numbers and shares

Know Your Meme / Via knowyourmeme.com

It's 2009 and memes are still mostly images with text to make them funny. "Meme" is still not a relevant word in the description of these images but it's starting to resemble what we now know as memes and definitely becoming more popular. This particular one has come back into popularity a few times throughout the years. We can see the evolution of memes in the way that the images have started to change so that there is more motion and activity in the meme.

Youtube / Via youtube.com

2009 was also the notable beginning of meme culture via videos. While this video is much longer than the 6 or 10 second videos we're used to on Instagram and Snapchat, it again lays the way for future meme culture. This video, in particular, has become quite popular in recent years in shorter clips and images from this original.

2010 and a new way to use memes

Know Your Meme / Via knowyourmeme.com

Know Your Meme / Via knowyourmeme.com

In 2010 "rage comics" were the beginning of memes as we know them now. While still not popularly called memes, the format may seem more familiar to modern memes. These memes allowed for a lot less text and a lot more reaction.

2011 and making regular people kinda famous

Know Your Meme / Via knowyourmeme.com

This is Steve, Scumbag Steve, and if you already knew that then you must love memes as much as I do or you just happen to recognize this classic from the considerable amount he was circulated in various memes.

Know Your Meme / Via knowyourmeme.com

This is Annoying Facebook Girl and when we were all on Facebook, I'm sure we all either knew this girl or were this girl. These two are some of the first times a simple picture of regular people had gotten turned into memes and then became hugely popular. These people didn't ask for their fame and memes were not yet popular but they were starting to get there.

2012 and breaking platform boundaries

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Gangnam Style came out of nowhere and completely took over the internet in 2012, breaking platform barriers on a major scale. The video and it's related meme images and gifs were shared across all popular platforms like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Still not popularly called a meme though.

2013 and pop culture in memes

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The word meme becomes so much more popular as pop culture icons started to become embedded in meme culture making meme culture and pop culture one and the same. This also made memes waaay cooler. If 50 cent and Drake are into memes than so am I. The bold white text is also no longer a major thing. The word meme is also definitely starting to make its rounds.

2014 and vine

Vine / Via vine.co

"Do it for the ____." If you said vine, we can be friends. Memes come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and formats, and we love them all equally. These six second videos led to a burst in meme variety. Vine also led to a different type of humour that revolved around funny incidents and situations or reactions rather than still images. Words are no longer necessary to understand the humour being conveyed.

2015 and it's starting to get complicated

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Know Your Meme / Via knowyourmeme.com

Memes are much more diverse than they use to be and some of them take a certain amount of background knowledge to understand and find funny. Amazingly, most people (read millennials) do have the necessary background knowledge to understand some pretty bizarre out there images/videos and make them funny, creating a new more niche but still large audience. It feels like we've started to create our own distinct language.

2016 and memes encompass everything, even politics

Meme Generator / Via imgflip.com

Daily Beast / Via thedailybeast.com

When the election came around in the US and words just weren't enough to express feelings, youth turned to memes to convey their feelings with their peers and found a way to talk about the election with like minded people. This made it easier to understand what was going on and highlight key aspects of each candidate's good and bad qualities.

2017 and memes are making people money

Memecrunch / Via memecrunch.com

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Memes have generated such a large following that the power of the masses has resulted in some major money for ordinary people. Howbowdat girl currently has a record deal and a few surprisingly popular songs out. Salt Bae now operates multiple successful restaurants. These people are rolling in money for one line or a 6 second video which makes me think hell, I could probably do that. A lot of people have gone on to create fan bases and income by creating memes in all forms.

2018 and it's really complicated

Via youtube.com

Do you understand the meaning all of these images without any context?

If you know what's up with these images, then you've been active on social media in the past few years and have seen the evolution of modern memes. To understand the meaning of these images, you would have to understand the fairly long history and context that these images are situated in. This collective history and understanding contribute to our shared sense of meaning that allows us (millennials) to come to the same conclusions about these images. And that is also exactly why memes are so popular. They convey a "whole mood" or are a quick and easy way to express a situation or feeling without having to use words. Memes just become a more effective and efficient form of expression than words. Plus, they're pretty fun.

Just remember: There's a meme for that.