Open AccessFamilies and Networks of Internet Memes: The Relationship Between Cohesiveness, Uniqueness, and Quiddity Concreteness
Author(s) -
Segev Elad,
Nissenbaum Asaf,
Stolero Nathan,
Shifman Limor
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of computer‐mediated communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.15
H-Index - 119
ISSN - 1083-6101
DOI - 10.1111/jcc4.12120
Subject(s) - concreteness , group cohesiveness , the internet , uniqueness , sociology , psychology , social psychology , computer science , world wide web , cognitive psychology
This study employs a large‐scale quantitative analysis to reveal structural patterns of internet memes, focusing on 2 forces that bind them together: the quiddities of each meme family and the generic attributes of the broader memetic sphere. Using content and network analysis of 1013 meme instances (including videos, images, and text), we explore memes' prevalent quiddity types and generic features, and the ways in which they relate to each other. Our findings show that (a) higher cohesiveness of meme families is associated with a greater uniqueness of their generic attributes; and (b) the concreteness of meme quiddities is associated with cohesiveness and uniqueness. We discuss the implications of these findings to the understanding of internet memes and participatory culture.