Our rooted data recognized four main types of meme quiddities one joined occasions into the exact same family: Object, specific character, simple reputation, step, and you can nur internationales Dating phrase. Pursuing the difference between concrete artwork quiddities and you can abstract textual of these (Lewis, 2012 ; Spitzberg, 2014 ), we developed a dimension to have quiddity concreteness. The original a few categories-items (such as for example Mentos inside “Diet Mentos”) and certain emails (for example Bert into the “Bert was Worst”)-try very noticeable and you may tangible. Common letters (for instance the individuals kitties in the “LOLcats”) and procedures (for instance the dancing actions in the “The fresh Progression away from Dance”) are visible, however their expression you can expect to move from one to for example to some other. In the end, unlike visible things, phrases could be the the very least concrete or the most conceptual of all of the groups. After that section, we mentioned the fresh percentage of period into the each family members one to contained possess off each of the kinds. For every single meme such as for instance for the a household had to include no less than one kind of quiddity. The quiddity concreteness peak try obtained for each meme family mainly based towards weighted countless the five-quiddity groups: target and you may particular profile (1), universal reputation and you may tips (0), and you may phrase (?1).
Quiddity systems
Into the RQ1 we asked do you know the prevailing variety of quiddities that bind meme family together. The research showed that step is among the most frequently employed quiddity on attempt (42.2% out of meme period), accompanied by statement (38.5%). Certain reputation (29%) and you can object (23%) was in fact less common, having generic reputation (fifteen.7%) behind trailing. It is critical to observe that our very own conclusions demonstrate that the new main quiddity was mostly not the same as the fresh universal attributes appearing into the the fresh new codebook for most meme household. Indeed, from inside the ninety% of the meme parents, new quiddity is actually certain and thus was not included in the simple properties. Including, about “Superstar Conflicts Man” household members, the work out-of fighting which have laser swords are an incredibly certain quiddity, which means couldn’t end up being seized by the common features of the fresh new codebook.
Into the RQ2 i requested and that themes, models, and you will participation formations try commonplace (and you can limited) in the modern web sites memes. We found that prominent people (twenty six.5%), eating (19.1%) and you may the fresh mass media (16.3%) have been the most famous subject areas; nationality (2.6%), current incidents (step 3.2%), and you will really works and you can a career (step three.3%) was the least well-known information. With respect to gender, male users (59.4%) were portrayed twice as often as female users (twenty-seven.3%). Youngsters and you can young adults (38.7%) checked very, when you’re senior people was indeed at least portrayed (5.6%) with regards to age bracket. Caucasian members (forty two.5%) were the quintessential illustrated ethnic group, while you are Latina or Latino professionals minimum of (0.2%). Fundamentally, with respect to function, very occasions was indeed photos (56%) otherwise video clips (42.6%) in lieu of natural textual memes (1%). Generally, these results corroborate a few of the observations manufactured in brand new qualitative knowledge explained over, where the memetic fields is actually called ruled by younger, white males. Regarding templates, media-situated playfulness seems to have already been alot more significant than engagement which have government. Very based on detailed statistics at the least, government is pretty limited regarding the memetic areas. Yet, given that unfolded lower than, community data will tell you a advanced facts.
The cohesiveness out-of universal attributes within the meme group
Because the detail by detail a lot more than, one of many tries with the research were to check the new the quantity of cohesiveness out of meme household regarding their generic attributes (RQ3). Profile dos shows new system off memes discussing equivalent posts properties. In order to make this new visual research sharper, we let you know here just four meme group one to display a couple of otherwise significantly more attributes. How big new node signifies the network studies, this basically means, what other meme era it shares articles qualities that have. Such as for example, the first meme out of “Leave Britney Alone” is the biggest node, revealing no less than several content characteristics which have 56 (out-of 83) almost every other meme period. “Graffiti” and you can “Birmingham” was one another cases of the newest “Pepper Spraying Cop” meme members of the family. They are littlest nodes on community, sharing a few stuff qualities which have one or two almost every other meme era. The latest depth of link is short for the amount of mutual features. For example, new links ranging from instances of the “Get off Britney By yourself” are thicker, and thus he or she is nearly the same as both in terms away from stuff. The first meme and its own occasions express to 9 (off 16) posts functions collectively.
