I feel that Know Your Meme has fallen a bit on hard times as of late, and with this post, I am proposing some things that I hope the site staff will take into greater consideration in the future. If everything goes to plan, we could potentially save the site from become a further husk of its former self and (maybe) save meme culture. Maybe you won’t agree with all of this, but hey, it’s worth a shot.
• Place less of an emphasis on Twitter memes
Let’s face the ugly truth: Twitter has become the site for most OC we see today, or at least, that’s how it seems. Twitter’s form factor has led to people simplifying their ideas and thoughts, and by extension, their content. Let me ask you a question: what made memes from the Turn of the last decade so great? For my money, it’s because they had a tad bit more “artistry” put into them compared to just simply typing “When…” and then posting an image from a movie or TV show. Some memes from the previous generations took a simple template and made their own spin on it. I’m not referring to Twitter-caption memes, but rather stuff like Caramelldansen, Nyan Cat, Gyate Gyate, etc.
• Find memes that place a greater emphasis on creativity
From what I’ve seen, part of the reason most modern memes don’t last that long is because of how simple and cookie-cutter they are. I’m sure you’ve seen a couple memes that have poked fun at how many “thing I don’t like” memes there are, or how many “wojak” memes there are. Meanwhile, memes like
• Quote-based memes work
Say what you will about Avengers Infinity War & Endgame, but those two movies were meme juggernauts. Fans of the movies are still quoting the two movies, to the point where quotes like “Gone, reduced to atoms” or “I see this as an absolute win” could become the next “Over 9000” or “Boom shacka lacka.” Really, quotes from movies and tv shows have existed as memes since the early days of the internet, and in turn, tie into the whole “in-joke” aspect that a good number of early memes had.
• Place less of an emphasis on Politics and/or political events
This is the big one. I personally feel that meme culture has become to engrossed in politics. As a guy who doesn’t really care about such things, I feel we would be better off separating the two, especially since some users here tend to get very hostile when discussing political topics.
The best idea I can currently think of is to create a new site on the CheezBurger network that is similar to Know Your Meme but is instead centered about politics or political events. That way, we can still have political articles while allowing KYM to breathe a life of its own, separate from politics. In a way, a grassroots political news site would also be appealing in of itself to a new kind of audience. Same goes for controversies.
• Make a greater effort to document memes outside of Twitter
I will be using the Mio Honda Fried Chicken video as reference here. See, the video was originally posted to Twitter, sure, but the video really blew up iFunny, a site notorious for low-quality or stolen content. But in this case, iFunny actually made a meme that somehow surpassed anything Twitter has put out in the past 6-8 months. If we’re going to expand meme culture beyond what it is right now, we have to look at the entire internet as a whole, not just Twitter, or what other social media platforms are popular right now. Think about it for a minute or two: how many of today’s memes have come from Twitter or Reddit? Now compare to the number of memes that come from other sites. Finding new sites with possibly better form factors for OC would be greatly appricated
• Make a greater effort to document memes from other countries
Back in “the day”, memes like Geddan and Fukkiretta didn’t just magically materialize, they took off in their home country of origin before being picked up by internet users overseas. In my opinion, one of the best aspects on the Internet is the way it pierces through cultural boundaries. It makes me curious as to why this kind of stuff doesn’t take off as often anymore, especially since social media has made it far easier to get in touch with people despite language barriers.
What has Japan been up to meme-wise, anyway? How about Italy? Brazil? China? It would be something very interesting to investigate IMO.
One way to get this specific idea on the right track is to investigate NicoNico Douga. Those suckers have so passionate when it comes to memes, they make full on music medleys featuring what’s popular at the time. It’s great.
• Bring back the old "top galleries" format
I honestly feel this would help. I can't say the same thing about others, but it was really helpful to have the top image galleries be the "Top 20" rather than the Top 8. If even one mildly-exciting thing snuck into the top 20, I may check it out and find something I never thought I would enjoy before. I think this could work with other users as well. The old top galleries format also displayed how many views each gallery was getting, and I'd like that too, but it's not as important.
“Maybe” ideas (These ideas aren’t required, but I’d be interested in seeing how they would play out):
• Reopen the Alternate Universe, Ruined Childhood, Childhood enhanced, and Cringeworthy galleries
I know. I know these galleries got out of hand after a while, and strayed far from their original intentions, but for what it’s worth, these galleries were a quintessential part of KYM back in the day, for better or worse. I wonder how these galleries would be treated if they were reopened.
• Try not to monetize memes
Seriously guys, do we need KYM merch? Or meme merch in general? Take it from me, when a meme gets merch of it made, that’s pretty much a sign it’s time to move on.
I will edit the document based of off feedback of users or add any new ideas I get. I hope you really read over, discuss, and consider the ideas I have brought to the table. Thank you.
Tl;dr: stop going on twitter you friccin morons
