• The New York Times, Thursday, September 16, 2010 12:47 PM

The New York Times investigates the evolution of an Internet meme, i.e., "an idea, image, catchphrase or video that goes viral, mutating via amateur remixes into unexpected forms." As The Times notes, "Often, memes revolve around an inside joke -- say, a screen capture from an obscure video game -- but just as often they make jokes of the source material."

What's more, "Memes may be image-based, involving a kind of visual pun ... Memes may bear little resemblance to the original material, such as when a local news segment in Alabama about an attempted rape." But, how exactly does something become an Internet meme? To answer that question, The Times consulted KnowYourMeme.com, a Web site that catalogs Internet memes and produces videos to explain how certain memes come into existence. The answer? Actually, KnowYourMeme does seem to know how meme come about -- it just tracks them.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »