User Comments

1. 

   5/19/07

   GregBecerra

   A meme is a blog post that covers a specific theme and asks (tags) other bloggers to do the same. For example you might have a meme to list your 3 favorite movies.
   
   You would post your 3 favorites, maybe say something about them like why they are your favorites, and then you tag (ask) others by listing links to their name and/or blog. You probably only want to tag someone that you have some level of communication with. And you should contact that person somehow to let them know they have been tagged (many people don't track who is linking to them).
   
   Different meme ask that you tag different numbers of people. I've seen people tag from 3 to 10 people, but I personally think more than 3 is a bit much. The people who are tagged (including you) should create a link on their version of the meme to the person that tagged them and the people they tag.
   
   There are two main purposes: 1. this generates links between blogs and helps blog visibility for everyone involved. 2. This can help reader to get to know various bloggers better since many of these memes ask to write about somewhat personal things. And it has a tendency to link like minded blogs together (unless you are a random tagger).
   
   Hope this helps.

   [reply]
2. 

   5/19/07

   Hummie

   Here's my post that I babbled about when I first found them and wondered what they were. There is a link to a site that lists them.
   blog.hummiesworld.com/2007/04/memes.html

   [reply]
3. 

   5/20/07

   marjie

   Basically, it's a blogging version of chain letter to which you are expected to write your own materials on a certain topic that the meme contains, and pass it along to other bloggers of your choice (most meme requires five bloggers or more). that's also called "tagging" someone.
   
   hope this helps!

   [reply]
   1. 

      5/20/07

      marjie

      btw....a couple from mine is posted in this page (incase you wanna take a look):
      polypocket.blogspot.com/search/label/tagging%20me%20it
4. 

   9/27/09

   Hels

   Since I was asked in blogcatalog today about memes, I thought I would bump this old discussion topic.
   
   Would meme experts accept GregBecerra's explanation as valid still?
   Are there any problems involved in participating in a meme? My experience is totally limited to one award meme, which seemed to go very well.

   [reply]
5. 

   9/27/09

   DaneMorgan

   Most of these answers answer the question from the specific idea of the "planned meme". An artificial attempt to create a meme. but this misses the point that a meme is a real thing and that internet, or blog, memes do occur naturally as well.
   
   a meme is "Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another".
   
   Thus anything that propagates from blog to blog in a viral sort of fashion and that transfers information with it's expansion is a meme.
   
   One example of this would be top ten lists. Frequently these are reposted blog to blog without anyone ever asking for it to happen. That would be an example of a natural meme conveyed by blogs.
   
   Knock Knock jokes are memes of a sort.
   
   The tagging element in many self described memes are an attempt to generate this viral expansion, and as such, untill and unless the post information does infact propagate widely though the culture, it is not truly a meme.

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   1. 

      9/28/09

      Hels

      DaneMorgan, are there any memes doing the rounds just now? Or was it a fad that came and went, along with other bloggy fads?
   2. 

      9/28/09

      DaneMorgan

      There are a few out there I'm sure. And some are pretty enduring, wordless Wednesday, for example.
   3. 

      9/28/09

      timethief

      Hels,
      Maybe you would like to check this out. thedailymeme.com/