Do Memes REALLY Go Viral?

2024-06-06

[public] 35.2K views, 5.40K likes, dislikes audio only

When we say a meme goes “viral,” we aren't actually saying it's making people sick. But the math behind a meme’s spread suggests it's actually a pretty spot-on analogy.

LEARN MORE

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

- Basic reproduction number: a figure expressing the average number of cases of an infectious disease arising by transmission from a single infected individual, in a population that has not previously encountered the disease.

- Epidemic: a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.

- Meme: an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.

- Viral: of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses. Or relating to or involving an image, video, piece of information, etc., that is circulated rapidly and widely from one internet user to another.

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CREDITS

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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director

Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Storyboard Artist

Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation

Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke

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REFERENCES

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On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities.