Internet Meme

 “Meme theory suggests that items of gossip are like living things that seek to reproduce using humans as their host” 

Taken from the TV show The Big Bang Theory, this definition describes the original meme, i.e. the transmission of an idea, gossip or behavior between people among a culture.  An internet meme extends on this idea by being a way of transmitting just about anything (videos, images, hashtags, blogs, websites) online often using websites such as Reddit and social media tools such as Twitter (hashtags) and Facebook (sharing) to turn a meme viral.
The one meme that really springs to mind is one released around November last year.  The NZ Transport Agency released a drink driving ad “Legend", aimed at young people. The video itself can be described as a meme in its own right, the day after it was released a friend of mine in Ireland linked the video to me through Wimp, an online video site, proving it had already gone viral.
Around the same time, people were campaigning for the general elections and several memes came out oriented at those.  My favorite was this one:

This started being shared around my friends on facebook, at the time the thread I shared had reached 1,828 shares, which is pretty big for NZ.  It takes the most popular part of the “Legend” advert and combines it with the negatives of John Keys election campaigns.  This meme became popular amongst young people, statistically least likely to vote Nats if they vote at all.  This example also shows how memes, and the internet in general, is a strong tool which can be used for publicity purposes and also to get the attention of a larger audience.