Understanding What

People Think of Memes

by Jaimee Maddox

Introduction
Since the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989, the information and communication over the
Internet has developed and branched out significantly (1). Before the World Wide Web was invented, the
term meme was coined in 1976 (2) and is defined by Merriam-Webster as an idea, behavior, style, or
usage that spreads from one person to another in a culture (3). Memes are often used as mimicry.
According to Crack.com, abracadabra was a meme that went viral even before the invention of the World
Wide Web (4).
Every day millions of social media users share various content, and it seems more and more memes are
being shared. I am interested in learning what other people think about memes and why they share them
to gain more insight one why memes are popular and being shared so often.

Methods
In order to find out more about what other people think about memes, a survey was created and shared
on my own personal media accounts. This survey included eleven questions, including:

> What is your definition of a meme?

> Have you ever shared a meme on social media or with someone else through a text
message, email, or other form of communication?
> What is the purpose of memes?
> If youve ever shared a meme, why did you share it?

This survey was shared on my personal Facebook page (Jaimee Maddox), my personal Twitter page
(@legenjaimeedary), and on the Ball State University Class of _____ 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 Facebook groups.

Results
One-hundred fifty people responded to the survey posted on various social media. To better understand
what people think of memes, it is important to take a look at the people responding to the survey.
Almost 95% of survey respondents reported they are between the ages of 18 and 24, as shown to the
right. There was at least one survey respondent in each age group given as an option.
Nearly 85% of survey respondents identify as female, 13.3% of respondents identify as male, 1.3% of
respondents identify as a non-binary gender, and .7% of survey respondents preferred not to disclose
their gender identity.

Almost 97% of the survey respondents claimed

to know what a meme is, while 2.7% of the
respondents sort of know what a meme is and
.7% of respondents do not know what a meme
is.
When survey respondents were prompted to
give a definition of a meme, 104 of the responses included the words photo, pic, or
picture. The next most frequent words were
funny (55), joke (31), and humorous (10).
Out of 150 survey respondents,
66% reported sharing a meme
all the time, 29.3% reported
sharing a meme occasionally,
3.3 % claimed to not really
share any memes, and 1.3%
said they have not shared any
memes at all.

When asked what is the purpose of memes, the most frequent word used by survey respondents in their
answers are laugh (50), humor (23), and entertain(ment) (20). A few responses mentioned that
purpose of memes is to make something relatable or to convey a certain feeling or message. Another small
handful of responses also said the puprose of memes is to make light of regular occurences.
The most frequent words used by survey respondents in answering why they share memes are funny/humor (82), laugh (25), and relatable/relate (24). The same words are most frequently used when survey
respondents answered the question Why do you think other people share memes?
Over half of the survey respondents reported they have not made any memes, 10% of respondents have
made one, 28% have made a few, and 5% have made a lot.

Survey respondents were asked to report their favorite meme if they had one. Over half of the survey
respondents said they do not have a favorite meme. A few survey respondents said they cannot pick just
one. Out of the respondents who did report their favorite meme, the Kermit the Frog, Pepe, and Spongebob memes were mentioned the most. After survey respondents answered the question regarding their
favorite meme, survey respondents were asked to share why the meme is their favorite. Over 59% of the
respondents answered with N/A, an increase of over 9% of the respondents who answered that the did
not have a favorite meme. Out of those who gave a reason for why a particular meme was their favorite,
most said they liked they meme because it was relatable, hilarious, or because the meme stemmed from
something they are a fan of.

Discussion
Overall the findings from the survey responses were surprising yet informative. Prior to receiving any
responses, I thought I knew how many survey participants were going to respond; however, that was not
the case.
First, I am surprised as many as 5% of the survey participants are not between the ages of 18 and 24. Since
I posted the survey to social media outlets that target the young adult population, I expected to have an
even higher percentage of survey participants fall into the 18-24 age group.
The female response rate is staggering, but this may be due to being involved in an organization with 150+
members who identify as female. The likelihood of having a higher female response rate than a male
response rate is higher when the survey participant pool consists of more females than males.
I am glad some survey respondents answered they are not sure what a meme is because this tells me that
not everyone is as familiar with meme culture as I would have thought. Survey respondents gave various
definitions of what a meme is, but not a lot of respondents definitions aligned well with Merriam-Websters definition, which defines a meme as an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to
person within a culture. This definition captures the essence of what memes really are, but survey respondents seem to have a limited working knowledge of what memes are.
Compared to the amount of memes I see when I scroll through my social media outlets, the amount of
survey participants who said they share memes all the time is surprising to me. I would have predicted
more people would share memes occasionally, while a lesser amount of people would share memes more.
Only 43% of survey respondents have ever made a meme. I would have thought the majority of people
would have made at least one meme. It would be interesting to look into this specific topic more to see why
people have made a meme or why people have not made a meme.

Limitations
There are several limitations to the findings of this
survey. One limitation includes not inquiring about
college enrollement. There could be a difference of
understanding of memes and opinions of memes
between those who are in college and those who are
not. I tried to identify survey respondents as college
students by creating the 18-24 category, but being
between the ages of 18 and 24 does not necessarily
mean those survey respondents are currently enrolled
college students.
Another limitation is the use of the word Other in
an option for the question What is your gender? The
use of the word other as an option for a gender could
deter people who do not identify as a gender binary
because it is othering language and could make them
feel excluded. Along similar lines, another limitation of this survey is the heavy female response rate.
There could potentially be a difference between answers provided by members of different gender
groups.
A fourth limitation is the lack of asking why survey respondents made a meme. Having this information could benefit my understanding of why memes are created and shared with others even further
Perhaps the biggest limitation of the survey is the self-reporting nature of the survey.

Resources Used
(1) http://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme#cite_note-2
(3) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme
(4) http://www.cracked.com/article_19119_7-memes-that-went-viral-before-internet-existed.html