Campus-themed Internet memes go viral
22.05.12
With roots in the evolutionary biology of Richard Dawkins, meme theory is something a student might expect to learn about while in class rather than killing time on Facebook.
But as higher education has suddenly turned into a hot zone for a certain strain of Web-borne gag, many students are watching meme theory unfold on their own campuses.
When Dawkins coined the term "meme" in 1976, he was writing about ideas that are passed from host to carrier in a similar manner to genes replicating, mutating and occasionally going extinct. In recent years, the term has come to refer to Internet memes ideas that spread through populations via the Web. They can present as videos, Twitter hash tags, and cat photos with misspelled captions.
About two weeks ago, there was an outbreak among college students. And as with all student-led communication trends, the recent meme craze has left onlookers to figure out how they should react. Some entrepreneurs have attempted to opportunistically fan the flames, while university officials have largely kept their distance.
Source: Lansing State Journal