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Memes on the Internet

As we have seen in previous sections, memes have traditionally spread through word-of-mouth communications. The advent of the written word, followed by the invention of the printing press, added new vectors though which memes could spread. More recently, technological innovations such as radio and television have allowed much faster and more efficient memetic transmission. However, the internet provides much more fertile ground for the rapid, worldwide diffusion of all manner of horizontally-propagating memes. Though it too was once a meme in itself, the world wide web has become one of the most fertile vectors in memetic history.

Why Memes Spread Quickly on the Internet

Memes spread rapidly on the internet for many different reasons. First, the internet's sheer information density allows a concentration of memes that was impossible with any other media. Writing and even movable-type printing could only transmit so much information - their memetic-spread value was inherently limited by such factors as ease of use and availability of materials. Even radio and TV have limits - a person can only listen to (and a station can only broadcast) one program at a time. All these meme-spreading methods are time- and energy-consuming, and they also rely on there being at least enough adherents to cover the expense of further dissemination. In other words, only memes that already existed to some degree could "afford" to utilize these meme-spreading mechanisms.

The internet is a different story altogether. It is relatively easy for almost anyone to assemble and post a workable (if not exactly attractive) internet site stating their views on all manner of issues. Even an unpopular meme can gain propagation opportunities if a single adherent makes an attempt to disseminate it. Moreover, memes that would previously have been unavailable to many populations become relatively easily accessible over the internet, greatly expanding each internet user's range of meme exposure.

The internet also solves the one-program-at-a-time problem faced by radio and TV. Its vast storehouses of information are available simultaneously, requiring only a few clicks to access such diverse information as the day's stock quotes, tomorrow's weather forecast, a new recipe, help with chemistry homework, perspectives on international trade, and a wealth of similar details. Whereas print media requires an exhaustive visual search and TV or radio requires waiting until the appropriate program comes on, the internet allows users to access numerous different types and classifications of information without excessive effort or delay.

Search Engines

Probably the best meme-spreading internet innovation is the search engine, which allows efficient location of even the most obscure information. Without search engines, most internet memes would languish in obscurity on isolated or hard-to-reach personal pages linked to only a few other documents. While large companies trying to promote memes favoring their own products would still flourish, much of the internet's meme-spreading capacity would not exist without search engines.

Search engines provide the most powerful and efficient way of locating obscure information or different memes relating to the same topic. Using a search engine, it is a relatively simple task to locate, say, articles discussing the military appropriateness of the use of the atomic bomb during World War II. A research paper on this topic, or even just locating information for personal interest, would once have entailed long and tedious trips to the library accompanied by cumbersome searching through card catalogs, book indexes, etc. With the power of search engines and the vast resources of the internet at your fingertips, this research project suddenly becomes many times easier.

Finally, search engines assist internet users by obviating the need to memorize long, often unintelligible strings of characters in order to return to certain sites. Without search engines, many people might remember a few important web addresses, but they would be unlikely to discover any new or unique memes from these sources. Search engines allow people access to a much greater storehouse of information and diversity of perspectives without requiring people to memorize long web addresses. This is especially helpful in the case of personal pages, whose addresses are sometimes long and difficult to remember. Incidentally, personal pages are one of the better sources of truly novel memes on the internet.

Increased Meme Transmission

It has been shown that the internet, due to its unique properties as an information medium, is extremely well-suited to meme propagation. However, these same properties actually encourage meme transmission by adherents. First, as mentioned above, meme transmission via an internet site is relatively simple and does not entail the cost of radio, TV, or print dissemination; it also does not require the repeated transmissions required by traditional word-of-mouth proselytism. Second, the internet makes anonymous posting of messages or pages possible, allowing adherents of relatively unpopular memes to speak up and be heard without revealing their identities. This possibility of anonymity is a powerful attractant to many people who are unsure of their ideas or opinions, who do not want to admit to their ideas (or who want to ask a potentially embarrassing question), or who feel threatened by their ideas. Such people are naturally drawn to anonymous internet postings which will hopefully not only spread their memes but also bring them into contact with fellow adherents.

In the same vein, the internet allows adherents of relatively unpopular memes to band together, if not physically, then at least ideologically and cybernetically. Even if adherents of a given meme are extremely well-distributed throughout a population, they can still present an organized front, set up a page or site detailing their meme set, and attempt to "cyber-proselytize" visitors. In this way, the internet is a powerful vector that contributes to the continuing survival of otherwise uncompetitive memes by allowing them to find a niche in the internet community.

Another factor in the increased meme transmission observed over the internet is its interactive nature. Print matter, radio, and TV are all essentially passive experiences requiring the reader, listener, or viewer to perform all necessary cognitive processing. Of course, discussions between individuals about reading material or radio/TV programs are possible, (and there are exceptions to this rule, such as call-in radio and TV shows) but the internet offers a possibility that is rarely if ever realized with any other media - simple, direct communication between users. This explains in particular why chat rooms are so wildly popular, especially among such traditionally "social" groups such as teenagers - chat rooms allow for user-friendly social interactions that broaden a person's normal social scope.

Messageboards and newsgroups are also popular because they allow a simple method by which people can share their information - or more, crucially, their memes - with a diverse population of internet users. They encourage communication between people, and thus between meme sets, that do not normally come in contact. Furthermore, they actively promote meme-sharing within the messageboard or newsgroup population by asking for feedback, comments, opinions, etc. This provides people with unique opportunities to exchange their views - and, incidentally, provides memes with unique opportunities for propagation.

Email

Email is one of the most direct and efficient forms of communication available through the internet. Through email, people can communicate quickly and efficiently with people from all over the globe without worrying about the delivery of postal mail. People can share their viewpoints accompanied by images, programs, and useful links, thereby tailoring their memetic proselytism to one or a few specific recipients. Interestingly, as people share their memes through email, other replicators sometimes hitch a ride: computer viruses.

Computer Viruses

While not technically memes, computer viruses are replicators whose spread has been greatly bolstered due to the internet. Viruses once relied on infecting a group of connected computers or a community of users freely sharing disks and data; now, they spread rapidly throughout the internet population via devices such as email. This extremely effective method of virus propagation allows the virus to spread virtually indefinitely (without containment measures, that is) by sending copies of itself to all addresses saved in the address book of a given computer. It may be that someday, viruses will "evolve" or undergo a type of natural selection, adapting to the different antivirus software used and ordinary security precautions implemented by a variety of people. Indeed, with enough time to evolve, viruses may begin to self-organize into "genomes" in the same way ancestral replicators organized into genomes and memes organize into meme sets.

Looking Further: Links and References

The following links and references are helpful in the study of memes on the internet.

• Books
  • Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society by Aaron Lynch
  • The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore

• Websites
  • The Internet and Memetics by Garry Marshall (highly technical)
  • Memes on the Net from Principia Cybernetica Web

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