The human meme

The past twenty years marked a shift in the marketting approach for many corporations. While they used to have precise timeslots to put their ad on tv, or magazines with readers to rely on, knowing who was more likely to see it and want it in order to target their audience and make them stick to their brand, companies have used the concept of “buzzing videos” to touch the masses on an emotional level through social medias. In this type of videos, the aim is not to express the quality of the product being but to touch masses through ideologies and cultural references, often in a suprising or amusing way. Sharing videos and content has now become part of our daily activites, but how do explan this new circulation of medias?

Douglas Rushkoff presented this type of content shared  ‘en-masse’ in Media virus! Hidden agendas in popular culture in 1994. He sees what a he calls ‘viral media’ a ‘truly viruses circulating through the datasphere’, as having some kind of innate power of their own to expand and touch users. Just like a physical virus circulating through genes, media viruses circulate through memes. Here is how media viruses function, their genetic:

  • They “travel through the networks of the mediaspace”
  • “The `protein shell´ of a media virus might be an event, invention, technology, system of thought, musical riff, visual image, scientific theory, sex scandal, clothing style or even a pop hero“
  • Media virus shells search out nooks and crannies in popular culture to latch onto and stick
  • “Once attached, the virus injects its more hidden agendas into the datastream in the form of ideological code” (memes)
  • “Memes infiltrate the way we do business, educate ourselves, interact with one another – even the way we perceive reality”

He presented three different types of media viruses:

.Somes that are launched intentionally to promote a product or ideology (advertisement)

.Bandwagon viruses that are “not necessarily launched intentionally but quickly seized upon and spread by groups who hope to promote their own agendas”

.Self-generated viruses that are “not planted but organically spread because they elicit interest and spread on their own accord, often hit upon societal weakness or ideological vacuum

Henry Jenkins criticized this approach in 2013 with his book Spreadable Media. Rather than looking at it like a human virus with biological properties independant of human control, he wants to show that these new forms of media are a new form of business model and communication which should be studied and understood through human agency, not biological theories. Instead of media viruses he called for ‘spreadable medias’, to which he presented these specific properties:

  • alternative model for how and why media content circulates at the present time
  • emphasizes the activity of consumers – multipliers – who circulate the media and open up new markets
  • repurposing and transformation of media content by users adds value
  • wants to motivate fans and enthusiasts to spread the word
  • seeks to expand consumer awareness by dispersing content across different channels
  • open ended user participation through different means and media
  • contrast to older models of stickiness
  • maps flow of ideas through social networks
  • grassroots intermediaries become advocates for brands
  • depends on collaboration between producers, marketers and consumers, even blurs lines between these roles
  • relies on localized and (sometimes) temporary networks in which media circulates

He presents a clear separation between the more classical model of stickiness vs spreadable media:

  • centralized control over distribution and attempts to maintain `purity´ of message
  • wants to attract and hold attention of site visitors
  • concentrates the attention of interested parties to a single site or channel
  • depends on pre-existing structured interactivity
  • tracks migration of individual users within a site
  • marketing to users by a sales force
  • outgrowth from the broadcasting push model to the internet’s pull model
  • producers, marketers and consumers are distinct from one another

 

An interesting case which is relevant to the smartphone platforms such as Instagram or Snapchat is the larger than life Dj Khaled. It is as if he read Jenkins book and decided to put to practice every aspect of it. His videos lead to viewer to seek for answers through absurd humor. When Khaled started using snapchat, he gave lessons of wisdom on life, providing ‘major keys’ to success (like watering plant or putting cocoa butter on your body). Dj Khaled is a music producer who’s known for screaming motivational catchphrases at the beginning of his songs like ‘We the best!’ or ‘Another one!’.  Without ever leaving the caracter he created for himself, everything Khaled does is a possible new meme just because of the way he talks about it. The mysterious persona people heard before in rap songs about victory where he is just screaming at the introduction pushed it a step further when, rather than using snapchat to be more relateable to his fans he constructed his unbelievable character. All of his catchphrases repeated through his videos (or anytime he is on camera, entering his persona instantly), had commercial ends for him. By making the way he acts looks as real as possible, viewers are just amused by this big weirg positive guy. Khaled has the ability make himself look ridiculous to reinforce the ideologies in his products. If he was known by hip hop listeners, it is through snapchat that he reached a mainstream audience. His following album was called ‘Major Key’, just like his catchphrase.

After quickly gaining millions of followers on the platform, he launched his show on apple radio, got invented to the ellen show and was oppening the beyonce’s formation tour. Oh and… he started selling these flip flops.

 

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