'Meme' Mania and the University of Lincoln

The world's most popular social networking site, 'Facebook' has seen its fair share of 'trends and fads' since its establishment in 2004; from charity drives requesting that users change their profile pictures to show their support to applications which allegedly show you who has visited your Facebook page the most.

The latest craze appears to be the 'meme.' 

According to Wikipedia, a 'meme' is  "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."

Meme: Michael Jackman

The earliest reference to the concept of a 'meme' was in the British evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins' 1976 book: 'The Selfish Gene' where he explains the theory of 'Memetics;' the evolutionary model of cultural  information transfer.

With the expansion of the internet, the idea of the 'meme' was developed into the 'internet meme,' a phenomenon which generally takes the form of comical or politically influenced pictures, adorned with bold captions, often of a satirical nature. Websites such as quickmeme.com allow users to quickly and easily create their own, personalised designs and share their via Twitter, Facebook and other social networking platforms.

Despite not being a particularly new introduction to the 100 billion dollar social networking site which boasts eight-hundred and forty-five million users; the 'meme' has begun to dominate many Facebook dashboards - especially those of university students.

A popular 'meme' application on Facebook consists of one-hundred and forty-thousand monthly users with thousands of other users following pages dedicated to their university's 'memes.' 

Universities including Nottingham Trent, University College London (UCL) and Goldsmiths all have their own specifically designed 'memes' and The University of Lincoln is no exception with two-thousand-seven-hundred and seventy-two (2,772) 'likes' in counting.

Lincoln's most popular include mentions of the notorious level crossing outside the Engine Shed building (often making students late for their lectures) and reference to the infamously long waiting lists at the university's medical centre.

It leaves us all wondering: how long will it last until the Facebook community reveal its next 'big thing?'

By Benjamin Yates

Sources:
Picture: University of Lincoln Memes Facebook Page - Michael Jackman

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme#cite_note-1

http://www.quickmeme.com