Taking Internet Memes Seriously:

A Literature Review (2005-2017)

1. Overview
This paper aims to discuss the growing and dominant online phenomenon – internet
meme by doing a bibliographic review of related theoretical and empirical research.
This paper presents the review of recent literature (2005-2017) from various journals,
magazine articles, and book sections. A bibliographic review is an essential phase of
all scientific investigation, not only because it contributes in a decisive way to the
compilation of empirical data to enable their interpretation, but also due to its
contribution to the theoretical and methodological design (Contreras-Espinosa et al.,
2012). The bibliography assessed here is chosen by quality and accessibility. I will
begin by displaying the evolution and debate about the definition of Internet Memes
(IM). I will then attempt to list and expand the main characteristics of IM that
emerge from on the latest research conducted in this field. The last section of the
paper will discuss my observations and further suggested studies/research in the
media landscape. This paper aims to argue for meme literacy to be included in the
limited traditional digital literacy definition and considered as an essential locus for
cultural, civic and political participation for children and youth.

2. Defining Internet Memes (IM)

The internet meme borrows its name from the from biological ‘meme’ coined by
Richard Dawkins in 1976. According to Dawkins, ‘meme’ is a gene-like infectious
unit of cultural transmission or imitation that spreads from person to person
(Dawkins, 2016). He attributes three key features to a successful meme: Copy-Fidelity,
Fecundity and Longevity. Most research (theoretical & empirical) reviewed in this
paper, one way or the other derive or attempt to conceptualise internet meme
through Dawkins ‘meme’. Therefore, to understand internet meme, it is important to
expand on Dawkins successful ‘meme’ key features. The first key feature, i.e., copy-
fidelity, is identified by a strong core idea remaining intact despite numerous
variations. The second key feature, i.e., fecundity is characterized by a rapid
replication. The third key feature, i.e., longevity, is characterised by a sustainable
replication pattern on a long-term basis. The ‘meme’ is known to carry gene and
virus-like properties that spread from person to person and infects the mind. The
original ‘meme’ by itself is ambiguous and sparked debate about its meaning and
definition (Knobel & Lankshear, 2005). As pointed out by Shifman in his paper, the
chief debate regarding ‘meme’ is the ambiguity on the issue of human agency and
virality in the process of meme diffusion (Shifman, 2013). Although ‘meme’ itself is a
much debated term, its similarity to the internet meme in itself cannot be overlooked
through which scholars still define the IM phenomenon.

To understand IM, it is imperative to address the first issue of human agency. As

explained by Shifman, “on one end of the spectrum, we find scholars such as
Blackmore (1999), who claim that people are ‘‘meme machines’’ operated by the
numerous memes they host and constantly spread. The undermining of human agency
is not inherent to the meme concept itself—only to one strain of its interpretation.
Most important to this essay is Rosaria Conte’s (2000) suggestion to treat people not
as vectors of cultural transmission, but as actors behind this process. The
dissemination of memes, she submits, is based on intentional agents with decision-
making powers: Social norms, perceptions, and preferences are crucial in memetic
selection processes. This conceptualization of people as active agents is highly
appropriate for understanding how memes travel on the digital highway” (Shifman,
2013). He then goes on to formulate the definition of IM, that also becomes the most
cited definition across IM research, – “Internet memes are defined here as units of
popular culture that are circulated, imitated, and transformed by individual Internet
users, creating a shared cultural experience in the process.” He does so by defining
IM by charting a communication-oriented typology of 3 memetic dimensions: content,
form and stance. He isolates the three dimensions of cultural items that people can
potentially imitate – content (of a specific text, referencing to both the ideas and
ideologies conveyed by it), form (physical incarnation of the message, percieved
through our senses such as visual/audible dimensions) and stance (the ways in which
addressers position themselves in relation to the text, its linguistic codes, the
addressees and other potential speakers). His definition which emphasizes on human
agency in the circulation and transformation of internet memes is later reflected in
the research conducted on IM role in articulating perspectives on OWS movement
where IM portrayed polyvocality and each meme a user created or shared altered the
discourse of the OWS online (R. M. Milner, 2013).

The earliest definition of IM in the field of research is closely related to Dawkins

‘meme’. In their research about popular memes, Knobel & Lankshear loosely define
IM as an online form of Dawkins ‘meme’ and base their research on the ‘successful
memes’ that were strong enough to capture online and offline broadcast media
attention (Knobel & Lankshear, 2005). Based on their empirical research, they
concluded constitutive element of successful internet memes – humour, rich
intertexuality and anomalous juxtapositions. From their research, they developed a
typology of IM that categorised the memes into static memes (replicated with very
little variation) and remixed memes (replicated via evolution, adaptation or
transformation of the original meme vehicle). Although the IM considered in the
research differ much more in definition now but it addressed one of the two key
issues related to IM. As put aptly by Yus, the qualities of internet memes led some
researchers to equate them to virals. However, there is only a partial overlapping
between the qualities of memes and virals: the fact that both of them can be
intentionally transmitted in an unaltered format. However, virals typically tend to
spread beyond the user’s intention rather than intentionally. This is not possible in
memes, which are intentionally created and transferred. Besides, memes are often
altered by the free software available on the Net, whereas virals tend to spread
unaltered (Yus, 2017).

There have been further attempts to conceptualize memes using semiotics and
epidemiology (Cannizzaro, 2016; Castaño Diaz, 2013). They further define internet
memes as systems (similar to Shifman) where memes cannot be understood in
isolation but in context with eachother. Some academicians also referred to online
sources for definitions of IM (such as knowyourmeme) to explore the digital meme
phenomenon but found them lacking in academically rigourous way (Cannizzaro,
2016). Online definitions of IM are highly debatable and subjective but one website
knowyourmeme.com comes close to defining IM distinguishing from Dawkins ‘meme’
as arguing that content that is only shared and which has not changed or evolved
while being passed on to others is viral content, and not a meme (Börzsei, 2013).

Therefore, the definition of IM has evolved from being viral (static or remixed),
typically a joke or humourous content on shared on digital platforms to systems of
units of popular culture that are circulated, imitated, and transformed by individual
Internet users, creating a shared cultural experience in the process.

3. Empirical Research on IM

No. Research Name (Author) Purpose Methodology

1. Memes and affinities: Cultural
replication and literacy education
(Knobel & Lankshear, 2005)
To identify key elements that appear to Discourse Analysis
constitute each case as a meme, to
establish some key categories of memes,
and to discern qualities of
'contagiousness' and 'susceptibility'
associated with these different online
memes and how these are facilitated by
electronic networks of communication.

2. The World Made Meme: Discourse and Focus on three criteria indicative of Critical Discourse
Identity in Participatory Media (R. M. cultural participation: processes, Analysis
Milner, 2012) identities, and politics.

3. Hacking the Social: Internet Memes,
Identity Antagonism, and the Logic of
Lulz (R. Milner, 2013)
4. Pop Polyvocality: Internet memes,
public participation, and the Occupy
Wall Street movement (R. M. Milner,
2013)
Empirical assessment of internet memes Critical Discourse
on 4chan and reddit, using the “logic of Analysis
lulz” favouring distanced irony and
critique at the expense of core identities,
race and gender, focusing on content
and tone in mediated public discourse.
How memes articulated perspectives on Multimodal Critical
OWS. Discourse Analysis

5. "There's no place for lulz on LOLCats":
The role of genre, gender, and group
identity in the interpretation and
enjoyment of an Internet meme
(Miltner, 2014)
6. “You Can't Run Your SUV on Cute.
Let's Go!”: Internet Memes as
Delegitimizing Discourse (Davis, Glantz,
& Novak, 2016)
Exploring social & cultural forces Focus Groups
contributing to meme’s popularity.
Examines Greenpeace’s Let’s Go! Arctic Multimodal
campaign, which opposed Shell’s Arctic Discourse Analysis
oil-drilling plans through green-peace
generated and user generated memes.

7. “It Gets Better”: Internet memes and Conceptualizing “It Gets Better” body of Quantative Content
the construction of collective identity videos as an Internet meme, examining Analysis &
(Gal, Shifman, & Kampf, 2016) the extent to which participants imitate Qualitative Critical
or alter textual components presented in Analysis
previous videos.
 8. Laughing across borders: Intertextuality How the carriers of Internet humour, Qualitative Content
of internet memes (Laineste & Voolaid, that is, memes and virals, travel across Analysis
2017) borders, to a smaller or greater degree
being modified and adapted to a
particular language and culture in the
process.

9. Internet memes as contested cultural Explores the workings of memes as Grounded Analysis &
capital: The case of 4chan’s /b/ board cultural capital in web-based Netnography
(Nissenbaum & Shifman, 2017) communities.

10. Digital cultures of political participation:
Internet memes and the discursive
delegitimization of the 2016 U.S
Presidential candidates (Ross & Rivers,
2017)
Examine the visual discursive features of Multimodal
Internet memes in relation to the Discourse Analysis
candidates for the 2016 U.S presidential
election – Donald Trump and Hillary
Clinton.

11. Internet Memes as Polyvocal Political
Participation (Ross & Rivers, 2017)
Provide evidence of the multitude of Critical Discourse
ways that Internet memes developed and Analysis
demonstrated political engagement
parallel to the unfolding electoral
process.

Much of empirical research in the field of IM has been qualitative content analysis.
Most research have analysed internet memes in web-based communities. So far, only
one reception research has been conducted among LOLCats internet meme enthusiasts
to explore the meme’s popularity (Miltner, 2014). Much favoured (and suitable)
methodology to analyse IM is the multimodal discourse analysis and critical discourse
analysis. One of the latest research employs netnography and grounded analysis to
analyse memes in an anonymous web-based community (Nissenbaum & Shifman,
2017). Grounded analysis approach seems like a lucrative methodology to further
analyse and characterize IM in digital space across various communities and social
media networks.

4. IM Characteristics
The complied empirical research above addresses IM in various online digital spaces
and various contexts, many of them being social movements faciliated by IM. Based
on my analysis of the empirical research above, I have compiled a list of
charateristics associated with IM and its major roles on the internet.

4.1 Cultural Artifacts to Contested Cultural Capital

As borrowed from Dawkins ‘meme’, internet memes becomes cultural artifacts in the
digital space, often borrowing from the offline and online world. IM encodes a
recognizable element of cultural information, where cultural information is defined as
some kind of meaningful idea, pattern, or chunk of ‘stuff’ that embodies and/or
shapes some aspect of the ways of doing and being that are associated with
belonging to a particular practice or group (Knobel & Lankshear, 2005). The cultural
value they hold is very subjective as one particular internet meme may differ in
meaning if placed in different online digital spaces (du Preez & Lombard, 2014; Yus,
2017). Memes as artifacts highlight their social and cultural role on the new media
landscape. Whereas a cultural artifact offers information about the culture that creates
and uses it (Watts, 1981), a social artifact informs us about the social behavior of
those individuals or groups which produce it (Wartofsky, 1979). Memes as artifacts
possess both cultural and social attributes as they are produced, reproduced, and
transformed to reconstitute the social system (Wiggins & Bowers, 2015). The shift of
internet memes from being a cultural artifact to cultural capital can be attributed to
its popularity as agent of participatory media, easy remixing (Börzsei, 2013), and
netizens’ constant effort to outdo each other’s creativity (Mina, 2014).
The communication through visual means has resulted in the “language of memes”,
a “visual vernacular” (Miltner, 2014). A clear example of IM being form of cultural
capital is in the online community 4chan board where internet meme are a form of
cultural capital that is required in order to assert a legitimate voice. Internet memes
in this case become contested cultural capital as there is no marker to which measure
what is right or wrong because of website’s emphemeral quality. (Nissenbaum &
Shifman, 2017). The memetic practice is not merely an expression of existing social
cultural norms, it is also a social tool for negotiating them. The relationship between
memes and norms is thus twofold: memes both reflect norms and constitute a central
practice in their formation (Shifman, 2014). Thus, even in other digital spaces,
internet memes can be seen as contested cultural capital (& even mediated cultural
artifacts) because of their unstable forms (a constant contradiction between
convention & innovation) and transformatory nature to negotiate what is considered
having social superior capital (Milner, 2012; Nissenbaum & Shifman, 2017).

4.2 Agents of Participatory Media

The online sphere has provided an answer and replacement to exclusionary traditional
mass media – participatory media. In the examined bibliography, IM are understood
as agents of this free participatory media where people are now capable of shifting
from passive culture consumption to active democratic culture production (Chen,
2012) as memes show that, even if at a low level, even if just for the sake of a joke,
more and more people are engaging with the news and what is happening around
them (Börzsei, 2013). As shown by Milner in his research – the internet meme could
be a quintessential participatory artifact: open, collaborative, and adaptable. The
technology required to create memes is often relatively simple and entirely free,
requiring only that a willing participant know where to download the tools and
where to upload the results (R. M. Milner, 2012). IM perfectly fit the vernacular of
online digital communication, especially rooted in ‘philosophy of playfulness’,
accessibility and transformability to address serious and non-serious content alike by
individual users (Ekdale & Tully, 2014). In the words of Wiggins and Bowers, IM are
are social and cultural artifacts that facilitate interaction between agent (individual
user) and social system, thus being an important agent of participatory media
(Wiggins & Bowers, 2015). In the empirical research, IM has been seen agents of
participatory media – web communities (reddit, tumblr, and youtube), anonymous
web communities (4chan board and the Cheezburger Network), and social media
networks (facebook and twitter). Their creation is facilitated by various online tools
available in the form of websites and downloadable free open source softwares.

4.3 Framing of Online (and Offline?) Identity

Memes are often produced on sites where social collectives come together and define
themselves at least loosely as a group (R. M. Milner, 2012). Therefore, IM become an
expression of collective identity. IM spread on a micro basis but memes’ impact is on
the macro: They shape the mindsets, forms of behavior, and actions of social groups
(Knobel & Lankshear, 2007). As agents of participatory media, they become especially
powerful in framing the online identity of the user. This is framing is both
intentional and unintentional on the side of the user. Main aspects of social media,
namely the content published, including memes in the form of text, images, and
videos actively contribute to the online persona or identity of the user. Importantly,
online personae influence the way in which offline personae are perceived (du Preez
& Lombard, 2014). It is also important to note that same IM can be used to construct
vastly different shared group identities (Miltner, 2014). Therefore, when an IM is
shared by a user, he co-constructs his identity and his identity is co-constructed by
his/her peers through the interpretation of the meme. This phenomemenon is
described by Yus as networked individualism, standing somewhere in-between the joy
of being individual and the joy of feeling the approval of the group. User-generated
versions of a meme may serve both purposes: on the one hand, users who exhibit
their individuality show they are digitally literate, unique, and creative. But at the
same time, what they upload as individual often relates to common, widely shared
rules or formulas. As a result, users simultaneously indicate and construct their
individuality and their affiliation with the larger community (Yus, 2017) which
reflects in the reseach of “It Gets Better” video meme (Gal et al., 2016). While IM
construct the online identity of the user, there is no concrete empirical evidence
suggesting its role in the framing of offline identity as well.

The meme culture has given expression to our everyday aesthetics and expose new
traits of media consumption (Börzsei, 2013; Chen, 2012; Katz & Shifman, 2017). Our
everyday aesthetics are described as “fleeting, malleable, immediate”. The
information overload of the current media does not permit longer engagement with
one piece of news, as the next hour will supply with many new ones of which the
internet meme is a poignant illustration (Börzsei, 2013). The memes are increasingly
focused on instant gratification. They are produced to critique how the culture
industry is producing worthless content lacking social value (Chen, 2012). The digital
memetic nonsense does not merely reflect people doing silly things over the internet,
it reflects the sheer enjoyment in subversiveness as it liberates participants from
burdensome obligation to generate new meaning (Katz & Shifman, 2017).

4.4 Pop-Polyvocality
Establishment of IM as cultural & social artifacts, agents of participatory media, and
as framer of networked identities begets the question of whose experience & identity
is being framed and in what forms. The empirical research in this paper points to IM
being inherently appropriating popular culture, and a mix of old inequalities and new
participation ((Knobel & Lankshear, 2005; R. M. Milner, 2012, 2013; Ross & Rivers,
2017; Shifman, 2014).

Popular culture finds a special place in the memetic studies as it often employs
popular media for various discourses (such as political, civic and environmental
discourses in the case of current bibliography) and the most cited definition of IM
calls itself a unit of popular culture. “A micro-level discursive analysis of memes can
provide insight into the nature of public discourse as it occurs through the shared
cultural discourses that so pervade our social engagement. When assessing the scope,
structure, and tenor of mediated cultural participation, pop culture artifacts are not
only sufficient. They are exemplary” (R. M. Milner, 2012). He further combines
public discourse (populism) and popular discourse as core features of participatory
media and thus, of internet memes. Although his work, primarily points towards
internet memes combining both discourses mentioned above for political discourse
and supporting social movements, he makes vary of internet memes contributing to
alternative media and alternative discourses as well which essentially make it
polyvocal in nature.

A participatory media essentially facilitates an active polyvocal (inspired from

Bakhtin) citizenship where previously marginalized will have a means to find
information and engage in public conversation on more equal footing, wealthy in
perspectives (R. M. Milner, 2013). Polyvocality among IM were analysed in North
American perspectives and political and civic discourses in the selected bibliography
which showed while diverse perspectives were present, they were relatively in a
narrow frame and followed old hegemonies, making it a mix of new participation
and old inequalities (R. M. Milner, 2012, 2013; Ross & Rivers. Damian J., 2017).
Although it each subsequent research showed increased participation but within the
bounderies of old hegemonic structure. Similar concern is expressed by Miltner in her
research where internet memes that take popular discourse are also set by dominant
forces that engage in problematic representations of marginal section of the
community (Miltner, 2014). Therefore, though IM are essentially incorporate the
popular along with dominant discourses, with each subsequent year they prove to be
more participatory giving voice to alternative and marginalized voices with anonymity
crucial in fostering increased participation (Ross & Rivers. Damian J., 2017).

4.5 Tool for Political & Civic Action or Discourse

Internet memes have emerged as the champions of political and civic discourse in
participatory media. As tools for political and civic action, the related empirical
research has analysed them through subversive and delegitmizing discourses (Castaño
Diaz, 2013; Chen, 2012; Davis et al., 2016; Ekdale & Tully, 2014; Gal et al., 2016;
Huntington, 2013; Katz & Shifman, 2017; R. M. Milner, 2013, 2012; Mina, 2014;
Procházka, 2014; Ross & Rivers. Damian J., 2017; Ross & Rivers, 2017; Szablewicz,
2014; Wiggins & Bowers, 2015)

Most IM that are situated in everyday and the mundane or cultural media aim at
social and political critique through parody or humorous appropriation (Knobel &
Lankshear, 2005). The Internet meme as an online community’s cultural artifact
actually helps to illuminate how they express values and share interests, which then
leads to the fostering of critical judgment in the membership and even creation of
political action (Chen, 2012). Memes show that, even if at a low level, even if just
for the sake of a joke, more and more people are engaging with the news and what
is happening around them. Memes can “tell the news”: sites like Memegenerator
reveal that, to this day, the most popular memes at any given time will likely cover
important news stories (Börzsei, 2013). In online participatory media, internet memes
become the key agents and vernacular of political and civic participation, articulating
perspectives. While in the West, they become essential tools for civic movements and
commentary for the political, they become essential tools in political action in non-
democratic countries like China in voicing dissent and transforming passive Kenyan
citizens to active participating citizens by enagaging in implicit & explicit political
commentary (Ekdale & Tully, 2014; Mina, 2014). Internet memes provide an entry
point, sometimes even the first exposure to topical “hot” and debated issues, mixing
critical commentary with absurd meta-comments. Memes can be political – they do
more than just criticise – they involve people (Laineste & Voolaid, 2017).

As an agent of participatory media giving rise to polyvocality, the IM become an

important tool for political and civic action or discourse having real impact on the
offline & online world. Though, internet meme display a real potential for a utopian
public sphere, the reality is still far as IM challenge the hegemonic voices but
simultaneously create problemtic discourses based on gender, race and ethnicity (Gal
et al., 2016; R. Milner, 2013; R. M. Milner, 2012; Szablewicz, 2014).

5. Redefining Digital Literacy

While memes the processes of making memes are open to all, they require literacy to
engage (R. M. Milner, 2012). The importance of ‘meme literacy’ was emphasized by
Knobel back in 2005 where she challenged the traditional web 2.0 digital literacy
definition inclusive of only what it means to be a competent user of new
technologies and networks – “increasingly, digital literacy is being defined by policy
groups and others as either technical competence with using computers and the
internet or as the ability to evaluate information by examining sources, weighing up
author credibility, assaying the quality of writing and argument building in an online
text, judging the ‘truth value’ of a text found online, and so on. Many of the
successful memes included in this study would be discounted or ignored by digital
literacy advocates because they do not carry ‘useful’ information, despite the
unquestionable fecundity and replication of each meme. Digital literacy mindsets do
not pay adequate attention to the importance of social relations in developing,
refining, remixing and sharing ideas in fecund and replicable ways, or the role
memes themselves play in developing culture and creativity” (Knobel & Lankshear,
2005). She further introduced the concept – memetic engineering, creation and
releasing of a positive counter-meme in response to harmful memes. When Knobel
proposed this concept, the definition of IM was different than it is currently. Besides,
Milner’s research on the Logic of Lulz revealed that while repressive and abusive
trolling is antagonistic and counterproductive to public discourse, the practice can
have its productive, agonistic dimensions as well, though, this awareness shouldn’t
preclude acknowledging the very real inequalities that persist (R. Milner, 2013).
Therefore, IM are complex systems where multiple and vastly different groups use
them with different meanings and intentions (Miltner, 2014). This makes IM even
more complex and important to digital literacy.

The subversive and often ironical tone of the IM can lead to moral panics that
undercuts its primary meaning. The features of IM that facilitate polyvocality such as
anonymity, populist discourse and satirical humour may lead to violence, bullying,
and sharing of controversial & false ideas. While communication through memes
could lead to misunderstandings, users who have enough knowledge of memes and
how they operate, are able to successfully communicate online using them
(Grundlingh, 2017). Apart from their varied interpretability, IM enjoy global
collaboration (virtually unlimited means of creating and altering them by a virtually
unlimited number of people) and IM change as their defining technologies change
(the means of creating and altering memes are regularly expanding in parallel with
the development of new technologies) (Procházka, 2014). Therefore, IM is still an
evolving concept that has gained an important place in mainstream participatory
media.

The present children and youth are, what Prensky calls, digital natives (Prensky,
2001). He suggested that these humans, who grew up surrounded with digital gadgets
and internet, changed their consumption patterns and lifestyles. IM reflect an
important part of the budding and ever-growing vernacular and habits of the digital
natives. It can be stated that all the stages of meme communication, one way or
another, impact the user’s identity, which is essential in today’s society, where
physical areas for the shaping of identity are frequently exchanged for virtual
scenarios which are the locus of many interactions and the place where information
sharing and spreading mainly take place nowadays (Yus, 2017). Therefore, their
inclusion in the current digital literacy definition becomes imperative. Research on
children’s right show that they hold a powerless position in the society (Morrow &
Richards, 2007). The Youth’s disillusion with contemporary politics has been an
alarming prospect among party leaders (Carter, 2005). Through IM and participatory
media, digital natives are siezing the means and production of media consumption.
Considering IM which are invertly or indirectly political, simply silly, nonsensical,
antagonistic or a joke, is ignoring the voice of the youth that expresses their identity
crisis or creativity through playful and populist discourse. Furthermore, the moral and
media panics around internet trolling (of which IM are a chief agent) research shows
that nature of how trolls and trolling are presented varies between different new
sources which suggests the moral panic is presented to different audiences based on
the gratifications they get from consuming them (Bishop, 2014). In the article
“Beyond Media Panics”, the authors suggest that much notion of media panics is
laden with theoretical baggage that does not match the empirical research
(Buckingham & Jensen, 2012). According to Cavagnero – the new generation of
digital natives enjoy control over their use and production of media, which goes
beyond the control that some journalists may be comfortable with (Cavagnero, 2012).
Therefore, it is time for time for taking internet memes seriously and to include them
in the limited digital literacy which is unequipped to understand their importance
and role in the contemporary world – online and offline. Most importantly, they are
the vernacular of contemporary Youth who have a right to be listened and their
thoughts & feeling in this, to be taken into account.

6. Further Suggested Studies

The assessed bibliography in this article has shown tremenduous research in the field
of IM in articulating the concept and roles of memes online. While the present
research has played an important role in uncovering internet memes, it also suggests
further empirical research to be conducted. While Shifman suggests conduction of
empirical research to provide a comprehensive overview of prevalent assumptions,
norms, and ideologies behind the memtic construction in the digital culture (Shifman,
2013), Miltner questions the dominant discourse set my early adopters (white male,
in this case) and suggests an empirical recpetion study in order to find out whose
experience is being resonated in a polyvocal participation medium (Miltner, 2014).
Many further suggested studies include a detailed empirical research on the proposed
theoretical theories presented by scholars in the this field which points to a major
gap in knowledge.

Another potential gap in the field of internet memes is IM’s intertextuality and
construction in the Global North & Global South which is highlighted through
difference between Makmende meme creation in Kenya compared to Gobal North
(Ekdale & Tully, 2014). The authors who analysed Makmende internet meme warn
researchers to postulate any general findings on internet meme, and emphasize their
role and significance within its national & cultural context. In their own words,
“Therefore, this study demonstrates that the overrepresentation of internet
users in the Global North can bias our understanding of participatory culture in the
Global South. Global media theories cannot ignore cultural differences and
prominence within the local context but, rather, should seize the rich data afforded
by case studies for refining emergent concepts and theories, such as those about
internet memes” (Ekdale & Tully, 2014). A similar premise is presented by
researchers of 4chan board who encourage research in other meme hubs to explore
the links between internet memes, cultural capital, and communal identity as internet
memes are shared by many communites (Nissenbaum & Shifman, 2017).

7. References
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review of media-texts and moral panics relating to “internet trolling.”
International Journal of Web Based Communities, 10(1), 7.
https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWBC.2014.058384
Börzsei, L. K. (2013). Makes a Meme Instead: A Concise History of Internet
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Buckingham, D., & Jensen, H. S. (2012). Beyond “Media Panics.” Journal of
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Cannizzaro, S. (2016). Internet memes as internet signs: A semiotic view of
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Carter, C. (2005). Hearing their voices: Young people, citizenship and online
news. In A. Williams & C. Thurlow (Eds.), Talking Adolescence: Perspectives
on Communication in the Teenage Years . Retrieved from
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