Thinking about the word Meme and how a few years ago this word meant nothing to me is interesting. I can’t go on social media now, and go a day without seeing a meme and knowing what it means within a social setting. Whenever there is an award show on television, something happened in the media, or someone is caught making a crazy face, you can guarantee that someone somewhere will have made a meme about it. They are everywhere and people have seemed to take memes, and give them a mind of their own. Making memes yourself is even easier than ever with meme generators. Around the time Wolfe of Wall Street came out, there was a meme going around with Leonardo DiCaprio’s face and I myself joined in on the meme epidemic and with a generator created this meme.   If I were to post it up now, it would have no relevance and people would probably wonder why I’m posting about an “old movie”. The thing about memes is they seem to have expiration dates. Whatever memes are popular in the moment, can also tell you what is popular within culture in the moment.  They are time shots of what is happening as it is happening, and if you wait too long to make a meme about a moment, it may miss you, and god forbid leave you out of the loop.  Just two nights ago the Met Gala was happening, and when Rihanna wore a statement piece the internet went wild and with it came a stream of memes.

It is interesting to see that Memes and social media have created a perfect bond between what is, and is not relevant and popular in culture. They have become another component of entertainment within social media itself, and I do not see memes going away anytime soon. It is a way for people to connect their sense of humor with intelligence, and create something that can go viral and get hundreds of retweets and views. I love memes when they are relevant to what I’m interested in pop culture and I often find myself laughing and sending them to my friends. It’s another way for people to share their interests, and it has definitely been successful.