I came across memes while browsing through the Internet and social media accounts. A meme, at the root, is an idea or thought. As I have learned in Writing in the Digital Age and in other courses concentrated in writing, memes have existed for quite some time in our brains. Today, memes are macro-images with text that go along with them. They reflect the social and cultural thoughts of society. Often, they touch upon moments and feelings that people experience in certain situations. Memes can originate from photos floating around the Internet, still images from television shows and movies, photoshopped images, and commercials.

    I would have never guessed that I would be learning about memes in an academic setting. Before, when I scrolled down my feeds, I would have a good laugh, and move on. Now, I can see the reflection of today’s attitudes in memes; memes can require analytical thought. Memes have become an integral part of the Internet, or rather online, language and culture. They communicate thoughts and ideas; they can even be used to for advertisements. Most contain a funny or cute image with sarcastic text.

    In class, I learned about two popular memes, LOLCat and Doge meme. Each one has a linguistic structure that is simply understood and accepted on the Internet. Aside from those two memes, there are many more. KnowYourMeme.com is database where one can search and learn the origin and history of a meme. Anyone can generate a meme, but popular ones go viral. There are even meme generators, both online and on mobile phone application stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play. A person can take an existing meme and use his or her own text. One could even create an original by using a personal photo and text.

   My experience with memes during this semester has been interesting. I now look at memes in a way that I would have never viewed them before. While some may be created for pure fun others can be about certain topics that are relevant to news. For example, Black Friday is soon. Stores open at ridiculous hours, even on Thanksgiving Day. Black Friday is notoriously known for it’s crazy lines and customers. There are many memes that comment on those stores and people. Aside from relevancy to today, memes can be used for advertisements. For example, I created a meme for a mock product for my Know Your Meme Presentation. Creating memes was fun. Using the concept for rhetorical design, I created a memes that were thoughtfully put together. I made sure that the image-macro and text reflected one another.

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