Virality and Memes on Social Media Platforms

Mousa, Hiba Nazmi Khalil; Ardash, Mohamed Saad; Hussein, Mohamed Hazim Mohamed Taha

doi:10.21608/mjaf.2021.90050.2443

Virality and Memes on Social Media Platforms

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Advertising dep. - Faculty of Applied Arts - Helwan Uni - Cairo - Egypt

² Advertising Department, Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

³ Advertising dept. Faculty of Applied Arts Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

10.21608/mjaf.2021.90050.2443

Abstract

The phenomenon of ‘Web 2.0’ is one of the factors that helped in the existence of multi ways communication, which led to the internet as we know it nowadays and gave us the chance to witness the rapid development of social media platforms. The number of netizens who use social media platforms to express themselves and define their identities expanded enormously, leading to a flood of visual content circulated and become a better reflection of netizens’ culture.
This research addresses two of the most expressions related to social media platforms, Viral, and Memes. The two concepts are explored to discuss the relationship between them and how one may lead to the other. Social media has become an essential means in digital marketing and communication; thus, it is a necessity to study viral and memetic content consumed on these platforms to utilize it in favor of brands, organizations, and even governments advocating products, causes, and ideas.
The researcher explores virality and its characteristics to define factors that may link between the two concepts, besides factors that should be fulfilled if we want to assure both. Furthermore, it discusses the visual characteristics of memetic content such as simplicity and emotions included, and factors that affect its behavior in terms of time and scale.
The researcher follows the descriptive approach by collecting information besides analyzing samples of existing Egyptian and international content on social media platforms. The paper conducted that Simplicity, Humor, and Participation are the key factors to create a viral piece of content that may become memetic for a certain culture in the digital sphere.

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