Meme makers crucial in digital economy growth

Memes keep most people sane. They are, undeniably, a therapeutic way of eliciting happiness or some sort of emotion. I spend 30 minutes every day looking for memes to crack my ribs.

I am also a loyal viewer of my friends’ status updates on social media platforms. Some of them plaster their walls with memes that, like the sun, brighten my day and help me to avoid boredom. Some of the memes may be slanderous but, anyway, every good thing has a bad side.

However, one wonders who produces these memes and how they benefit from them. Have the social media platforms and the youth become overly dependent on memes?

The meme industry has to be one the most benevolent and prominent. It’s tasked with manufacturing memes in tune with trends that most people use to decorate their timelines and statuses. Ironically, the meme connoisseurs are steadfast in producing the content but, unfortunately, get nothing in return. Most of the meme creators are the youth in various institutions who, in their spare time, inspired by humorous thoughts, come up with funny memes.

Memes are a show of creativity. They can pass for a low-budget form of art. It’s not easy to come up with a pun or those replies from Twitter that leave most of us hollering in laughter. As we approach the elections, meme makers should creatively enlighten the youth who are the biggest consumers on how impactful their vote is to bringing change in the country.

It is high time memes were monetised. The meme creators spend a lot on data and time to make them to be paid only through exposure and praise. Take, for example, a page on Facebook run by a college student whereby, every month, the administrator puts out a Till number and, surprisingly, people send him some money in appreciation of his content.

Just as people buy and sell stock photos on sites such as Alamy, so should memes be traded in order to support the creators.

Mr Nyauncho is a freelance journalist. [email protected].