Making meaning of social media memes

You must have seen those humorous, absurd, niche, and self-referential video clips or images circulating on social media meant to amplify a message and infuse it with the intended emotion. The photos are cropped out of their original context and circulated on social media. These are memes. 

While an outright definition of a meme is hard to nail down, the term is most often associated with an image or video that portrays a particular concept or idea spread on WhatsApp, Facebook Chat, Instagram, and such like forums.

People often create and share them for fun, but there are many other reasons individuals or groups use memes. The internet has proven to be a powerful platform where memes spread like wildfire.

The images and videos that convey the message are often altered, resulting in the evolution of the original idea into something entirely different. Others are posted with a new caption to portray a modified form.

What is considered a meme may vary across cultures on the internet. Memes are essentially a language that people use on the internet and identifying and understanding the nuances is key to understanding communication between people online. A meme created in a Kenyan context, for example, may not be understood by someone from another country or culture.

Among the most circulated memes is one of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe with captions offering tongue-in-cheek advice on marriage and interpersonal relationships.

Social commentary

Former South African President Jacob Zuma appears in a fair share of viral memes. Memes of local politicians are created daily depending on the current political topics or events.

Local popular memes include the "olisikia wapi" and "nitakufinya" sensations clipped from TV news items. The "ala!" meme created from the attention-setting exclamation often used by Cotu boss Francis Atwoli has been doing the rounds on social media. Hundreds of thousands more are curated on Pinterest.com.

Memes are also used to provide social commentary on something but in an easy-to-digest, visual way. Most people find them easy to understand because they share relatable experiences, sometimes with people they've never even met. Not to mention, they make us slap our knees and cup our faces with easy laughter.

Can you take any meme and share it without its creator's permission? No; almost every popular meme is copyrighted. Unless the image is classified as a Creative Commons graphic or is generally in public domain, it's safe to assume you don't have the rights to share it.

But, with the internet steeped in millions of memes, it's almost futile to track down and punish copyright violators.

Memes are also being embraced as viable marketing tools. Companies are using memes in promoting their brands. They use them to whittle down complicated concepts to digestible ideas. Memes are magnetic; they draw audiences and can be used to create buzz on a product.

Mr. Wambugu is an informatician. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Samwambugu2