Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

I've noticed that some memes last very short time. Others last a long time. Some memes end after backlash, others end gracefully.

So what are the main factors of the likability and lifespan of a meme?

How mutable it is. If a meme has just one punchline or reaction then it's only ever going to be one thing and quickly burn out. This is the determining factor for a meme's lifespan nowadays I'd say. A popular brand or an emotional reaction tied to a meme can make it burn bright for a while, but how much you can twist it determines how long it will last presently.

Meme lifespan mostly depends on the size of the community it is introduced into and how popular it gets. Large communities will overuse it and pretty much drive it into ground in a matter of days. Smaller communities can have memes that last forever.

It's hard to say. You can look at Spurdo Sparde which maintained consistent relevance through reaction images and derivatives for almost a decade.

Then you got Ugandan Knuckles, which was unanimously killed weeks after the first video brought its most popular resurgence.

They're both similar in a lot of ways, originally being a means to derail topics or to cause raids for lulz. Maybe one is simply more charming than the other? Or maybe Spurdo having started very small, warmed up to people over the years.

It really determines to the meme’s main punchline, if it can be altered to have the same or different punchline and the size of the community that created said meme. An example is something like the HERESY BLAM meme from 40k. It still maintains prevalence due to the nature of the series it’s based on, that being anything that the Inquisition or Imperium doesn’t like is branded as heresy.

On another note look at a meme that still gets use today, DOGE. Before it was an advice animal type meme now it’s more altered to be a different type of joke. Some being someone who’s clueless and is about to do something dangerous, others being quite wholesome.

Now a meme that’s dead within a few weeks to a week is the Ugandan Knuckles meme. It kinda ran its course as a quick joke/jab then it got played into the ground once it made it into the public’s eye.

But right now, memes can only last a long time if they end up fitting the aforementioned criteria of a punchline that can be altered, if the punchline loses its ability to be funny if altered and the size of the community that made it.

Possible fates of memes:

Fell from popularity after deemed cancerous (Damn, Daniel)

Remains popular for normies or a certain group, Deemed cancerous elsewhere (Minions)

Meme remains in ironic use (Arrow in the knee)

Usage of the meme fades out gracefully without backlash (Lolcats)

Meme ends suddenly (Leonardo Dicaprio's oscar)

Meme is immortalized (loss.jpeg)

Did I miss possible fates? In each category, what are the main factors that lead the meme having fate listed above?

Most memes don't really have a lifespan in terms of time, but in terms of number of reposts. Let me explain; The more popular a meme is, the quicker it tends to die, this is because there is a limit to how many variations of the meme there can be. So a meme seen by millions of people within a few days will make thousands of alterations of that meme. Memes seen by only a few thousands people within a few days will make a few dozen or hundred variation of the meme.
The more people who see it, the quicker all the good variations of that meme get used up.
Memes stay around the longest the longer they stay within a niche group of people.

Its originality, origin and potential to be manipulated into new original content covering a wide range of topics or extremely specific topics.
Good or bad lifespan alone isn't a good measure of a meme.

A great example of poor performing memes are the 9001 object labelling and things I don't like memes. Reddit™, Twitter, other social media™ manufactured memes that emulate earlier memes, require little input and are modified then posted to farm approval/upvotes.

Wisehowl pretty much nailed it. Memes with a flexible, but not-too-flexible punchline, while offering room for creativity while not necessarily having a high floor are the most likely to last a longer period of time. Also, it helps if they're not primarily used on a site that has some form of upvote/downvote system. This tends to cause memes to be drained as quickly as possible for Internet goodboy points.

This is why object labeling memes only last a few days tops. Actually, ditto for sports memes, which tend to primarily spread via Twitter, which takes the upvote system in the form of likes/retweets.

So basically also what the post above mine points out.