What the Eff is a Meme

Here are some of the BIGGEST MEMEs of all times. Most you have seen…and some you missed. But by the definition its just a matter or time. LEt me share with you…

A meme: is “an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.

Advice Dog
Year: 2006
This series lead to dozens of spin-offs known as Advice Animals that often use the same color wheel background, originally from a Mario Brother’s fan site. MemeGenerator, created in 2009, played a key role in the spread of Advice-Dog templates.

Demotivational Posters
Year: 1998
In 1998 Despair Inc. began making spoofs of the motivational posters often found in large offices. Spread via blogs and discussion forums, there are now a number of websites featuring the posters, some of which zero in on a particular character, like Peter Griffin Motivational Posters and Kurt Vonnegut Motivational Posters.

I Can Has Cheeseburger?
Year: 2007

With as many as 1,500,000 hits a day, this Lolcat site brought animal-based image macros and Lolspeak into the mainstream. Two Lolcat books hit shelves in 2008 and 2009. The Cheeseburger network now consists of 53 sites including, FAIL Blog.

The Honey Badger
Year: 2011
While nature clips with funny voiceover already existed, Randall’s sassy and irreverent version was the first to go viral and inspire macros, tribute videos, remixes and merchandise. In addition to creating a YouTube series titled “Randall’s Wild Wild World of Animals,” he has since landed gigs with MovieFone, The Huffington Post, Grasshopper, and Wonderful Pistachios.

Check out all 100 at complex.com