Meme

A meme is a concept, behavior, or piece of media that spreads from person to person within a culture, often with the intent of conveying a particular idea, humor, or trend. A meme is an idea with properties which make it more likely to be shared. It is an idea with viral properties, an idea with an in-built mechanism which causes people who possess this idea to spread the idea to other people. The term was originally coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene," where he used it to describe how cultural information spreads similarly to genes.

In the context of the internet, a meme typically refers to a humorous image, video, or text that is copied and spread rapidly by users, often with slight variations. Internet memes can be jokes, cultural references, or commentary on current events, and they often go viral across social media platforms.

A meme is the antithesis of an antimeme which is an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by its intrinsic nature, discourages or prevents people from spreading it.