A Decade of Know Your Meme!

Ten years ago on this day, the Know Your Meme database officially went live. Since its beginning in December 2008, what began as a companion site to the original web series has grown from a niche forum for internet meme enthusiasts to an encyclopedia of Internet cultures, thanks to YOU, the hard-working members of our community. As we enter the first decade milestone, here are some numbers and factoids about Know Your Meme:

In Numbers

Over the last decade, the database has received:

- 27,590 entry submissions
- 4,096,323 comments
- 1,398,502 images
- 186,437 videos
- 423,942 users
- 887,556 forum posts

Milestones

September 5th, 2007: Know Your Meme begins as a recurring segment within Rocketboom’s daily weblog.

December 13th, 2007: The pilot episode of Know Your Meme web series is released, featuring co-founders Kenyatta Cheese, Ellie Rountree and Jamie Wilkinson as “internet scientists.”

December 23rd, 2008: The Know Your Meme Database launches as a companion website to the web series.

August 24th, 2009: Know Your Meme is highlighted in TIME Magazine's annual 50 Best Websites list.

April 11th, 2010: Know Your Meme wins a Streamy Award for Best Guest Star in a Web Series.

May 21st, 2012: Know Your Meme wins a Webby Award for Best Culture Blog, People's Choice.

June 5th, 2014: Know Your Meme is inducted into the Web Archiving Program of American Folklife Center at the United States Library of Congress.

March 30th, 2016: Know Your Meme gets mentioned in a "Netflix and Chill" clue on Jeopardy!

May 31st, 2018: Know Your Meme is cited in On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities, a EU-funded academic study of memes across various social networks, published by seven researchers.

---

Notes: All statistical figures listed above were logged on December 7th. The artwork featured in the masthead was created by our community member Cat-Monster.