Study traces the origins and diffusion of image memes online
Apr 2022, phys.org
Hard for me to be any more satisfied at this -- we are finally seeing some research done on memes. Granted, they're the neo-memes, as in "macro image series", or "funny pictures with text on the bottom", instead of the fundamentalist, classical definition of memes as in "Richard Dawkins selfish memes". Still, I'll take it.
The question: Do they diffuse in marginal communities before going mainstream, or do they stem from intermediate networks that connect peripheral and mainstream communities?
- First they identify online communities that post memes.
- Then they used image recognition to track backwards.
- They're also using something called "cloud vision API" to make sure it's fresh and not been sitting somewhere else on the internet.
Findings: Most image memes are first published on Reddit and then shared on other platforms.
My only problem here is that there is no attempt to discern whether the origin is from a regular person or a semibot (full robot, half robot half human, human with ill intent or disingenuous intent, etc.)
via Stanford: Durim Morina et al, A Web-Scale Analysis of the Community Origins of Image Memes, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (2022). DOI: 10.1145/3512921
Notes:
Michael S. Bernstein researches internet culture, including memes.
Image credit: Anime Techne - Simione Castle - 2021
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