Meme

History and Origins
According to Webster Merrian dictionary a meme is defined as "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture". The word meme is derived from the Ancient Greek word mimeme which translates to an "imitated thing" and it was credited to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in the Selfish Gene (1976). The study of memes is called memetics, it studies the creation and transmission of memes in an evolutionary model. Dawkins used the term to refer to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator. He theorized that one could view many cultural entities as replicators, and pointed to melodies, fashions and learned skills as examples. 
Popular Memes
Seen on the right are two very popular internet memes. The first called bad luck Brian and if you were to type that in google you would see thousands of different results with different replications. The one below is commonly referred to as Scumbag Steve and like the bad luck Brian meme thousands and thousands can be seen on the internet. These were both very popular with the reddit community. 
Internet Memes
An internet meme is a meme that travels extremely rapidly through internet based technologies like Facebook or twitter or through instant messaging or websites like youtube. They are usually formed through social interactions, references to popular culture, or through common mutual experiences. Dawkins later characterized these meme's as different from his original theory of memes because the were not changed from mutation through random change. Internet memes come in many different forms: hashtags, pictures, hyperlinks , photos as well as many others. Internet means are concentration from Dawkin's original definition. They have vast evolution potential because of the rapid sharing ability of newer technologies, these memes can reach a vast audience with in days. 
References 
* Meme. Merriam-Webster Dictionary
* Dawkins, Richards (1989), The Selfish Gene (2nd Edition). Oxford University Press, p. 192. 
* Coscia, Michele (April 5, 2013). "Competition and Success in the Meme Pool: a Case Study on Quickmeme.com" (PDF) 
Category:History